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EDUCATION 


UNITED  STATES 


A    SERIES    OF    MONOGRAPHS 

PREPARED    FOR    THE    UNITED     STATES    EXHIBIT    AT    THE 

PARIS    EXPOSITION 

1900 


EDITED  BY 

NICHOLAS    MURRAY    BUTLER 

Professor  of  Philosophy  and  Education  in  Columbia  University 
New  York 


5909     1 


PUBLISHERS 

J.   B.  LYON   COMPANY 

ALBANY,  N.  Y. 

1900 


Copyright,  1900, 

BY 

J.  B.  LYON  COMPANY. 


':\:'\    \:iii\\  1 


>-    c  o 


L  A 
CONTENTS 


PAGE 

INTRODUCTION vii 

Nicholas  Murray  Butler,  Professor  of  Philosophy  and  Educa- 
tion in  Columbia  University,  New  York 

EDUCATIONAL  ORGANIZATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION    -        -      i 
Andrew  Sloan  Draper,  President  of  the  University  of  Illinois, 
Champaign,  Illinois 

y 

^   KINDERGARTEN  EDUCATION     -        -        -        -        -        -        -        .    33 

V^  Susan  E.  Blow,  Cazenovia,New  York 

t^ELEMENTARY  EDUCATION         n 

/  William  T.  Harris,  United  States  Commissioner  of  Education, 

Washington,  D.  C.  ' 

^  SECONDARY  EDUCATION  '-        -        - 141 

Elmer  Ellsworth  Brown,  Professor  of  Education  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  California,  Berkeley,  California 

,     THE  AMERICAN  COLLEGE  -" 207 

^  Andrew  Fleming  West,  Professor  of  Latin  in  Princeton  Uni- 

versity, Princeton,  New  Jersey 

THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY   /      -        -        ^        -        -        -        -  249 
Edward  Delay  an  V-ekry,  Jay  Professor  of  Greek  in  Columbia 

University,  New  York 

•^  EDUCATION   OF  WOMEN    ^- 319 

M.  Carey  Thomas,  President  of  Bryn  Mawr  College,  Bryn  Mawr, 

Pennsylvania 

,t 

.    TRAINING  OF  TEACHERS  ^- -  359 

B.  A.  Hinsdale,  Professor  of  the  Science  and  Art  of  Teaching  in 
the  University  of  Michigan,  Ann  Arbor,  Michigan 

SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE  AND  HYGIENE  * 409. 

Gilbert  B.  Morrison^  Principal  of  the  Manual  Training  High 
School,  Kansas  City,  Missouri 

INDEX      ---- 464a 


INTRODUCTION 


Spontaneity  is  the  keynote  of  education  in  the  United 
States.  Its  varied  form,  its  uneven  progress,  its  lack  of  sym- 
metry, its  practical  effectiveness,  are  all  due  to  the  fact  that 
it  has  sprung,  unbidden  and  unforced,  from  the  needs  and 
aspirations  of  the  people.  Local  preference  and  individual 
initiative  have  been  ruling  forces.  What  men  have  wished 
for  that  they  have  done.  They  have  not  waited  for  state 
assistance  or  for  state  control.  As  a  result,  there  is,  in  the 
European  sense,  no  American  system  of  education.  There 
is  no  national  educational  administrative  machinery  and  no 
national  legislative  authority  over  education  in  the  several 
states.  The  bureau  of  education  at  Washington  was  not 
established  until  1867,  and  save  in  one  or  two  minor  respects, 
its  functions  are  wholly  advisory.  It  is  absolutely  depend- 
ent upon  the  good  will  of  the  educational  officials  of  the 
states,  counties  and  municipalities  and  upon  that  of  the 
administrative  officers  of  privately-conducted  institutions, 
for  the  admirable  and  authoritative  statistics  which  it  col- 
lects and  publishes  year  by  year.  That  these  statistics  are  so 
complete  and  so  accurate  is  evidence  that  the  moral  influence 
and  authority  of  the  bureau  of  education  are  very  great,  and 
that  it  commands  a  co-operation  as  cordial  as  it  is  universal. 
But  the  national  government  has,  from  the 

a  lona  gov-  ygj.y  bes^inningf,  made  enormous  grants  of  land 
ernment  and  ,  •       •  j     r     j         •       •     .1  1 

J       , .  and  money  in  aid  01  education  in  the  several 

states.  The  portion  of  the  public  domain 
hitherto  set  apart  by  congress  for  the  endowment  of  public 
education  amounts  to  86,138,473  acres,  or  134,591  English 
square  miles.  This  is  an  area  larger  than  that  of  the  six 
New  England  states.  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Maryland  and 
Delaware  added  together.  It  is  a  portion  of  the  earth's 
surface  as  great  as  the   kingdom  of  Prussia,   about  seven- 


Vlll  INTRODUCTION 

tenths  as  great  as  France,  and  considerably  greater  than  the 
combined  areas  of  Great  Britain,  including  the  Channel 
islands,  and  the  kingdom  of  Holland.  The  aggregate  value 
of  lands  and  money  given  for  education  by  the  national 
government,  as  Commissioner  Harris  shows  in  detail,'  is 
nearly  $300,000,000. 

The  uniform  tendency  of  recent  develop- 

Education  a  iji-i-ii--  11 

^  ^    -      ^.       ment,  as  marked  by  ludicial  decisions  and  by 
state  function  ,     .  ,    .  ^    .  1  1.  1 

legislative  enactments,  is  to  treat  all  publicly- 
controlled  education  as  part  of  a  slowly-forming  system  which 
has  its  basis  in  the  authority  of  the  state  government,  as  dis- 
tinguished from  that  of  the  nation  on  the  one  hand  and 
from  that  of  the  locality  on  the  other.  This  system  may  be 
highly  centralized,  as  in  New  York,  or  the  contrary,  as  in 
Massachusetts,  but  the  theory  underlying  it  is  the  same. 
The  two  fundamental  principles  which  are  emerging  as  the 
result  of  a  century's  growth  are,  first,  that  education  is  a 
matter  of  state  concern,  and  not  merely  one  of  local  prefer- 
ence ;  and,  second,  that  state  inspection  and  supervision 
shall  be  applied  so  as  to  stimulate  and  encourage  local  inter- 
est in  education  and  to  avoid  the  deadening  routine  of  a 
mechanical  uniformity.  The  state  acts  to  provide  adequate 
opportunity  for  elementary  education  for  all  children,  and 
abundant  opportunity  for  secondary  and  higher  education. 
But  the  state  claims  no  monopoly  in  education.  It  protects 
private  initiative,  whether  stimulated  by  religious  zeal,  phil- 
anthropy or  desire  for  gain,  in  doing  the  same  thing.  It  is 
not  customary,  in  the  United  States,  for  state  officials  to 
inspect  or  to  interfere  with  the  educational  work  of  pri- 
vately-established institutions.  When  these  are  chartered 
bodies,  they  are  subject  simply  to  the  general  provisions  of 
law  governing  corporations  of  their  class.  When  they  are 
not  chartered  bodies,  the  state  treats  them  as  it  does  any 
private  business  undertaking  :  it  lets  them  alone.  Standards 
of  efficiency  and  of  professional  attainment  are  regulated  in 
these  institutions  by  those   in   neighboring  public   institu- 

»I:  96 


INTRODUCTION  IX 

tions,  by  local  public  opinion  and  by  competition.  Some- 
times these  forces  operate  to  raise  standards,  sometimes  to 
lower  them.  New  York  has  gone  farther  than  any  other 
state  in  attempting  to  define  and  to  classify  all  educational 
institutions,  private  as  well  as  public.  Pennsylvania  has 
recently  entered  upon  a  similar  policy ;  and  it  is  being  urged 
in  other  states  as  well.  The  public  elementary  schools  are 
more  or  less  carefully  regulated  by  law,  both  as  to  length  of 
school  term,  as  to  subjects  taught,  and  as  to  the  necessary 
qualifications  of  the  teachers.  The  public  secondary  schools, 
familiarly  known  as  high  schools,  and  the  state  universities 
are  usually  without  any  such  regulation. 

The  term  "common  schools "  is  often  used 
Statistics  of  jj^  ^^^  United  States  of  the  public  elementary 
pubhc  educa-      111,1  ■    / 

..  schools  alone  ;  but  the  more  correct  use"  is  to 

tion  ' 

include  under  it  all  public  elementary  schools, 
—  the  first  eight  years  of  the  course  of  study,  —  and  all 
public  secondary  schools,  maintaining  a  four  years'  course, 
as  a  rule,  in  advance  of  the  elementary  school.  In  1897-8 
the  total  estimated  populajtion  of  the  United  States  was 
72,737,100.  Of  this  number  21,458,294  —  a  number  nearly 
equal  to  the  population  of  Austria  —  were  of  school  age,  as  it 
is  called  ;  that  is,  they  were  from  5  to  1 8  years  of  age.  This 
is  not  the  age  covered  by  the  compulsory  education  laws,  but 
the  school  age  as  the  term  is  used  by  the  United  States  census. 
By  school  age  is  meant  the  period  during  which  a  pupil  may 
attend  a  public  school  and  during  which  a  share  of  the  public 
money  may  be  used  for  his  education.  It  is  obvious,  then,  that 
persons  who  have  satisfactorily  completed  both  an  elementary 
and  a  secondary  course  of  study  may  still  be  returned  as  of 
*'  school  age  "  and  as  "  not  attending  any  school."  This  fact 
has  always  to  be  taken  into  account  in  the  interpretation  of 
American  educational  statistics. 

In  1897-8  the  number  of  pupils  entered  upon  the  regis- 
ters of  the  common  schools —^  that  is,  the  public  elementary 
and  the  public  secondary  schools  —  was  15,038,636,  or  20.68 
per  cent  of  the  total  population  and  70.08  per  cent  of  the 


INTRODUCTION 


persons  of  "school  age."  The  total  population  of  Scotland 
and  Ireland  is  only  about  half  so  many  as  this.  For  these 
pupils  409,193  teachers  were  employed,  of  which  number 
131,750,  or  32.2  per  cent  were  men.  The  women  teachers 
in  the  common  schools  numbered  277,443.  The  teachers, 
if  brought  together,  would  outnumber  the  population  of 
Munich.  The  women  alone  far  more  than  equal  the  popu- 
lation of  Bordeaux.  No  fewer  than  242,390  buildings  were 
in  use  for  common  school  purposes.  Their  aggregate  value 
was  nearly  $500,000,000  ($492,703,781). 

The  average  length  of  the  annual  school  session  was  143.  i 
days,  an  increase  since  1870  of  11  days.  In  some  states  the 
length  of  the  annual  school  session  is  very  much  above 
this  average.  It  rises,  for  example,  to  191  days  in  Rhode 
Island,  186  in  Massachusetts,  185  in  New  Jersey,  176  in 
New  York,  172  in  California,  162  in  Iowa,  and  160  in  Michi- 
gan and  Wisconsin.  The  shortest  average  annual  session 
is  in  North  Carolina  (68.8  days)  and  in  Arkansas  (69  days). 
Taking  the  entire  educational  resources  of  the  United  States 
into  consideration,  each  individual  of  the  population  would 
receive  school  instruction  for  5  years  of  200  days  each. 
Since  1870  this  has  increased  from  3.36  years,  and  since  1880 
from  3.96  years,  of  200  days  each. 

The  average  monthly  salary  of  men  teachers  In  the  com- 
mon schools  was  $45.16  in  1897-8;  that  of  the  women 
teachers  was  $38.74.  In  the  last  forty  years  the  average  sal- 
ary of  common  school  teachers  has  increased  86.3  per  cent 
in  cities  and  74.9  per  cent  in  the  rural  districts.  The  total 
receipts  for  common  school  purposes  in  1897-8  were  almost 
$200,000,000  ($199,317,597),  of  which  vast  sum  4.6  per 
cent  was  income  from  permanent  funds,  17.9  per  cent  was 
raised  by  state  school  tax,  67.3  per  cent  by  local  (county^ 
municipal  or  school  district)  tax,  and  10.2  came  from  other 
sources.  The  common  school  expenditure  per  capita  of 
population  was  $2.67;  for  each  pupil,  it  averaged  $18.86. 
Teachers'  salaries  absorb  63.8  per  cent  ($123,809,412)  of 
the  expenditure  for  common  schools. 


INTRODUCTION  XI 

The  commissioner  of  education  believes  the  normal 
standard  of  enrollment  in  private  educational  institutions  to 
be  about  1 5  per  cent  of  the  total  enrollment.  At  the  pres- 
ent time  it  is  only  a  little  more  than  9 percent,  having  been 
reduced  apparently  by  the  long  period  of  commercial  and 
financial  depression  which  has  but  lately  ended. 

Illiteracy  in  the  United  States  can  hardly 
be  compared  fairly  with  that  in  European 
countries  because  of  the  fact  that  an  overwhelming  propor- 
tion of  the  illiterates  are  found  among  the  negroes  and 
among  the  immigrants  who  continue  to  pour  into  the  country 
in  large  numbers.  The  eleventh  census  of  the  United  States, 
taken  in  1890,  showed  that  the  percentage  of  illiterates  to  the 
whole  population  was  13.3,  a  decrease  of  3.7  per  cent  since 
the  census  of  1 880.  But  the  percentage  of  illiterates  among 
the  native  white  population  (being  73.2  per  cent  of  the  whole) 
was  only  6.2  of  those  ten  years  of  age  or  older.  Among  the 
foreign  born  white  population  (14.6  per  cent  of  the  whole), 
the  percentage  of  illiteracy  was  13.1,  and  among  the  colored 
population  (12.2  of  the  whole),  it  was  56.8.  That  is,  nearly 
one-half  of  the  whole  number  of  illiterates  in  the  United 
States  were  colored.  Only  in  Florida,  Mississippi,  West 
Virginia,  Virginia,  Kentucky,  Georgia,  Arkansas,  Tennessee, 
South  Carolina,  Alabama,  Louisiana,  North  Carolina,  and 
New  Mexico,  was  the  percentage  of  illiteracy  among  the 
native  white  population  greater  than  10.  This  percentage 
fell  below  2  in  New  Hampshire  (1.5),  Massachusetts  (0.8), 
Connecticut  (i.),  New  York  (1.8),  District  of  Columbia 
(1.7),  Minnesota  (1.4),  Iowa  (1.8),  North  Dakota  (1.8), 
South  Dakota  (1.2),  Nebraska  (1.3),  Montana  (1.6),  Wyom- 
ing (1.3),  Nevada  (0.8),  Idaho  (1.9),  Washington  (1.3), 
Oregon  (1.8)  and  California  (1.7).  In  Kansas  it  was 
exactly  2. 

.  It  is  not  infrequently  charged  by  those  who 

J     .  have  but  a  superficial  knowleds^e  of  the  facts, 

and  crime  \  ^  . 

or  who  are  disposed  to  weaken  the  force  of 
the  argument  for   state  education,  that  one  effect  of  the 


XU  INTRODUCTION 

system  of  public  education  in  the  United  States  has  been  to 
increase  the  proportion  of  criminals,  particularly  those 
whose  crime  is  against  property.  The  facts  in  refutation  of 
this  charge  are  so  simple  and  so  indisputable  that  they 
should  always  be  kept  in  mind. 

In  the  first  place,  it  must  be  remembered  that  communi- 
ties which  maintain  schools  have  higher  standards  as  to  what 
is  lawful  than  communities  which  are  without  the  civilization 
which  the  presence  of  a  school  system  indicates,  and  that, 
therefore,  more  acts  are  held  to  be  criminal  and  more  crimes 
are  detected  and  punished  in  a  community  of  the  former  sort 
than  in  one  of  the  latter.  A  greater  number  of  arrests  may 
signify  better  police  administration  rather  than  an  increase 
in  crime. 

Again,  where  records  have  been  carefully  kept,  it  appears 
that  the  illiterate  portion  of  the  population  furnishes  from 
six  to  eight  times  its  proper  proportion  of  criminals.  This 
was  established  for  a  large  area  by  an  extensive  investiga- 
tion carried  on  by  the  bureau  of  education  in  1870. 

The  history  of  the  past  fifty  years  in  the  state  of  Massa- 
chusetts is  alone  a  conclusive  answer  to  the  contention  that 
education  begets  crime.  In  1850  the  jails  and  prisons  of 
that  state  held  8,761  persons,  while  in  1855  ^^^  number  had 
increased  to  three  times  as  many  (26,651).  On  the  surface, 
therefore,  crime  had  greatly  increased.  But  analysis  of  the 
crimes  shows  that  serious  offences  had  fallen  off  40  per  cent 
during  this  period,  while  the  vigilance  with  which  minor 
misdemeanors  were  followed  up  had  produced  the  great 
apparent  increase  in  crime.  While  drunkenness  had  greatly 
fallen  off  in  proportion  to  the  population,  yet  commitments 
for  drunkenness  alone  multiplied  from  3,341  in  1850  to 
18,701  in  1885.  The  commitments  for  crimes  other  than 
drunkenness  were  i  to  every  183  of  the  population  in  1850 
and  I  to  every  244  of  the  population  in  1885.  In  other 
words,  as  has  been  pointed  out,  persons  and  property  had 
become  safer,  while  drunkenness  had  become  more  danger- 
ous—  to  the  drunkard. 


INTRODUCTION  XIU 

The  American  people  are  convinced  that  their  public 
school  system  has  justified  the  argument  of  Daniel  Webster, 
made. in  1821  :  "For  the  purpose  of  public  instruction,"  he 
said,  "we  hold  every  man  subject  to  taxation  in  proportion 
to  his  property,  and  we  look  not  to  the  question  whether  he 
himself  have  or  have  not  children  to  be  benefited  by  the 
education  for  which  he  pays ;  we  regard  it  as  a  wise  and 
liberal  system  of  police,  by  which  property,  and  life,  and  the 
peace  of  society  are  secured.  We  seek  to  prevent,  in  some 
measure,  the  extension  of  the  penal  code  by  inspiring  a  sal- 
utary and  conservative  principle  of  virtue  and  of  knowledge 
in  an  early  age.  We  hope  to  excite  a  feeling  of  respecta- 
bility and  a  sense  of  character  by  enlarging  the  capacities 
and  increasing  the  sphere  of  intellectual  enjoyment.  *  *  * 
Knowing  that  our  government  rests  directly  upon  the  public 
will,  that  we  may  preserve  it  we  endeavor  to  give  a  safe  and 
proper  direction  to  the  public  will.  We  do  not,  indeed, 
expect  all  men  to  be  philosophers  or  statesmen  ;  but  we 
confidently  trust  *  *  *  ^j^g^^.  \yy  ^j^^  diffusion  of  general 
knowledge,  and  good  and  virtuous  sentiments,  the  political 
fabric  may  be  secure  as  well  against  open  violence  and 
overthrow  as  against  the  slow  but  sure  undermining  of 
licentiousness." 

^.      ,.  Where  the  public  school  term  in  the  United 

Hducation 

and  industry  ^^^^^^  ^^  longest,  there  the  average  productive 
capacity  of  the  citizen  is  greatest.  This  can 
hardly  be  a  coincidence.  When  the  man  of  science  finds 
such  a  coincidence  as  this  in  his  test  tube  or  balance,  he 
proclaims  it  a  scientific  discovery  proved  by  inductive  evi- 
dence. The  average  school  period  per  inhabitant,  taking 
the  United  States  as  a  whole,  was,  in  1897,  4.3  years.  The 
average  school  period  for  Massachusetts  is  7  years.  The 
proportion,  therefore,  between  the  school  period  in  that 
state  and  the  school  period  in  the  whole  United  States  is  as 
70  to  43.  It  is  very  interesting  to  note  that  the  proportion 
between  the  productive  capacity  of  each  individual  in  Massa- 
chusetts and   that  of  each  individual   in  the  whole  United 


XIV  INTRODUCTION 

States,  is  as  66  to  37.  Education,  70  to  43 ;  productivity, 
66  to  37.  On  the  basis  of  306  working  days  in  Massachu- 
setts, and  on  the  basis  of  a  population  something  over 
2,000,000,  this  means  that  every  citizen  of  Massachusetts  — 
man,  woman,  infant  in  arms  —  is  to  be  credited  with  a  pro- 
ductive capacity  every  year  of  $88.75  rnore  than  the  aver- 
age for  the  United  States  as  a  whole.  Or  to  put  in  the 
most  striking  fashion,  it  means  that  the  excess  of  productive 
capacity  for  the  state  of  Massachusetts  in  one  year  is 
$200,000,000,  or  about  20  times  the  cost  of  maintaining  the 
public  schools.  If  the  state  of  North  Carolina,  for  exam- 
ple, could  bring  it  about  through  education  that  every  indi- 
vidual's productive  capacity  was  increased  10  cents  a  day  — 
that  is,  just  one-third  the  Massachusetts  excess  —  for  306 
working  days,  estimating  the  population  roughly  at  1,750,000, 
the  state  would  be  better  off  in  the  next  calendar  year  to 
the  amount  of  $54,000,000.  If  the  increase  could  equal 
the  Massachusetts  excess  of  29  cents,  North  Carolina  would 
be  better  off  to  the  extent  of  $160,000,000.  North  Caro- 
lina now  spends  less  than  $1,000,000  a  year  for  public 
education. 

The   number  of  public  secondary  schools, 

Pubhcsec-  j^j  v  schools,  in  the  United  States  in  1897-8 
ondary  edu-         ^  ,      .  .         ^      . 

cation  ^^^    5.3 15>    employmg    17,941    teachers    and 

enrolling  449,600  pupils.  Nearly  3,000  of 
these  schools  (2,832)  were  in  the  North  Central  states. 
The  rapid  increase  of  these  schools,  the  flexibility  of  their 
program  of  studies  and  the  growing  value  of  the  training 
which  they  offer,  are  among  the  most  significant  educa- 
tional facts  of  the  last  two  decades.  The  present  rate  of 
increase  of  secondary  school  pupils  is  nearly  five  times  as 
great  as  the  rate  of  increase  of  the  population.  It  is  note- 
worthy, too,  that  nearly  50  per  cent  (49.44)  of  the  whole 
number  of  secondary  school  pupils  are  studying  Latin.  The 
rate  of  increase  in  the  number  of  the  pupils  who  study  Latin 
is  fully  twice  as  great  as  the  rate  of  increase  in  the  number 
of  secondary  school  students. 


INTRODUCTION  XV 

Between  1890  and  1896,  while  the  number  of  students  in 
private  secondary  schools  increased  12  per  cent,  the  num- 
ber of  students  in  public  secondary  schools  increased  87  per 
cent.  Further,  since  1893-4  the  number  of  pupils  in  pri- 
vate secondary  schools  has  steadily  declined. 

The  number  of  collesres  in  the  United  States 

T  1   *     fl 

^^^  l"i""      — 472,  excluding  those  for  women   only  —  is 
ence  of  the  ,  ,,  ,    ,         .      .      .  ,, 

rollee-e  very  large.     Many  01  these  mstitutions,  small 

and  weak,  ill-equipped  and  ill-endowed,  are 
frequently  criticized  severely  for  endeavoring  to  continue 
the  struggle  for  existence.  This  criticism  is,  in  part,  jus- 
tifiable, but  it  ought  not  to  be  forgotten  that  almost 
every  college  exerts  a  helpful  influence  upon  the  life  of  its 
locality.  The  fact  is  frequently  overlooked  that  all  American 
colleges  depend  for  their  students  in  large  measure  upon  their 
own  neighborhood.  Few  draw  from  the  nation  at  large,  and 
these  few  draw  only  a  small  proportion  of  their  students 
from  beyond  the  confines  of  their  own  state  or  the  limits  of 
their  own  section  of  the  country.  For  example,  of  the  28,000 
(27,956)  students  attending  colleges  in  the  North  Atlantic 
division,  26,393,  or  94.41  per  cent,  are  residents  of  the 
states  included  in  that  division.  Of  the  8,529  students  in 
colleges  of  Massachusetts,  55.62  per  cent  are  residents  of 
that  state,  and  83.37  per  cent  are  residents  of  the  North 
Atlantic  division,  of  which  Massachusetts  is  a  part.  In 
Oregon  the  percentages  rise  to  96.09  and  99.87,  respectively. 

The  development  of  universities  in  the  United 
American  ^  ,  ,  ,  ,     .  , 

btates  has  taken  place  durmof  the  present 
universities  .  _,       ^  .        .     „    .      . 

generation.      1  he    name    "  university      is,    in 

America,  no  proper  index  to  the  character  and  work  of  the 
institution  which  bears  it.  Professor  Perry  has  set  out 
illustrations  of  this  fact  with  great  clearness."  Nevertheless, 
the  distinctions  between  secondary  school,  college  and  uni- 
versity are  more  widely  recognized  each  year  and  it  is  not 
too  much  to  hope  that,  in  course  of  time,  the  various  insti- 
tutions will  adopt  the  names  which  properly  belong  to  each. 


XVI  INTRODUCTION 

The  definition  of  a  university  which  I  have  suggested 
elsewhere '  is  this :  "  An  institution,  where  students,  ade- 
quately trained  by  previous  study  of  the  liberal  arts  and 
sciences,  are  led  into  special  fields  of  learning  and  research 
by  teachers  of  high  excellence  and  originality  ;  and  where, 
by  the  agency  of  museums,  laboratories,  and  publications, 
knowledge  is  conserved,  advanced  and  disseminated."  In 
this  sense  there  are  at  least  half-a-dozen  American  universi- 
ties now  in  existence,  and  as  many  more  in  the  process  of 
making.  These  universities  are  markedly  different  from 
those  of  France,  Germany,  and  Great  Britian,  but  they  respond 
in  a  most  complete  way  to  the  educational  needs  of  the  Ameri- 
can people,  and  they  are  playing  an  increasingly  important 
part  in  the  advancement  of  knowledge  and  the  development 
of  its  applications  to  problems  of  government,  of  industry  and 
of  commerce.  The  administrators  of  American  universities 
have  studied  carefully  the  experience  of  European  nations, 
and  they  have  applied  the  result  of  that  experience,  wherever 
possible,  in  the  solution  of  their  own  problems. 

The  variety  and  value  of  American  contri- 
Literature  of   ,      .  ^       ^^  r       i        • 

.       ^.  butions  to    the   literature    ot    education   are 

education 

worthy  of  notice.  Nearly  300  periodical  pub- 
lications of  one  type  or  another  are  devoted  mainly  to  edu- 
cation. A  few  of  these  rank  with  the  leading  educational 
journals  of  the  world.  Perhaps  the  publications  of  the 
National  educational  association,  a  voluntary  organization 
of  teachers  of  every  grade,  are  the  most  characteristic  Ameri- 
can contributions.  They  include  not  only  the  invaluable 
series  of  annual  Proceedings,  containing  papers  and  discus- 
sions by  the  leaders  of  American  education  for  a  generation, 
but  reports  upon  particular  subjects  the  investigation  of  which 
has  been  undertaken  from  time  to  time  by  special  commit- 
tees. Among  the  subjects  so  reported  upon  are  these  : 
Secondary  school  studies.  Organization  of  elementary  edu- 
cation. Rural  schools,  College  entrance  requirements,  Rela- 
tion of  public  libraries  to  public  schools,  and  Normal  schools. 

'  The  Meaning  of  Education  (New  York,  1898),  p.  130 


INTRODUCTION  XVll 

The  most  valuable  official  publications  are  these :  the 
annual  reports,  issued  since  1868,  by  the  United  States 
commissioner  of  education,  those  since  1889  being  par- 
ticularly noteworthy;  the  reports  issued  by  Horace  Mann 
as  secretary  of  the  state  board  of  education  of  Massachu- 
setts, 1838-49  ;  the  twelve  volumes  of  reports  issued  by  Wil- 
liam T.  Harris,  as  superintendent  of  the  public  schools  of 
St.  Louis,  Mo.,  1867-79  I  ^^^  the  annual  reports  of  Charles 
W.  Eliot  as  president  of  Harvard  university,  1871-99. 
The  annual  reports  of  state  and  city  superintendents  of 
schools  are  a  storehouse  of  information  and  often  contain 
elaborate  discussions  of  educational  theory  and  practice. 
Private  aid  ^"^  ^^^^  ^^  American  education  is  certainly 

to  education  unique.  That  is  the  vast  sum  given  in  aid  or 
endowment  of  education  by  individuals.  It 
recalls  the  best  traditions  of  the  princes  and  churchmen  of 
the  middle  ages,  but  is  on  a  vastly  larger  scale.  For  some 
time  past  the  income  of  Harvard  university  from  this  source 
has  been  nearly  or  quite  a  million  dollars  annually.  In 
1898-9  the  total  amount  of  gifts  to  Harvard  university  for 
purposes  of  general  or  special  endowment  was  $1,383,460.77, 
and  for  immediate  use  $161,368.90.  Columbia  university 
has  received  in  the  last  decade  $6,736,482  in  money  and  in 
land.  An  unofficial  estimate  'of  the  amount  given  by  indi- 
viduals during  the  year  1899  for  universities,  colleges, 
schools  and  libraries  is  over  $70,000,000.  The  tendency 
which  these  colossal  figures  indicate  is  one  of  the  most  for- 
tunate and  most  hopeful  in  American  life.  The  makers  and 
holders  of  great  fortunes  are  pouring  out  from  their  excess 
for  the  development  of  the  higher  life  and  greater  produc- 
tive capacity  of  the  people.  The  religious  bodies,  in  par- 
ticular the  Roman  Catholic  church,  are  doing  the  same 
thing  upon  a  very  large  scale.  The  conviction  that  educa- 
tion is  fundamental  to  democratic  civilization  is  perhaps  the 
most  widespread  among  the  American  people.  Public  funds 
and  private  wealth  are  alike  given  unstintingly  in  support 
of  it. 


XVlll  INTRODUCTION 

Education,  conceived  as  a  social  institution, 

,     \.  is   now  being:  studied    in  the  United  States 

education  ** 

more  widely  and  more  energetically  than  ever 
before.  The  chairs  of  education  in  the  great  universities  are 
the  natural  leaders  in  this  movement.  It  is  carried  on  also 
in  normal  schools,  in  teachers'  training  classes  and  in  count- 
less voluntary  associations  and  clubs  in  every  part  of  the 
country.  Problems  of  organization  and  administration,  of 
educational  theory,  of  practical  procedure  in  teaching,  of 
child  nature,  of  hygiene  and  sanitation,  are  engaging  atten- 
tion everywhere.  Herein  lies  the  promise  of  great  advances 
in  the  future.  Enthusiasm,  earnestness  and  scientific 
method  are  all  applied  to  the  study  of  education  in  a  way 
which  makes  it  certain  that  the  results  will  be  fruitful. 
The  future  of  democracy  is  bound  up  with  the  future  of 
education. 

The  present  work  passes  in  review  these  and  many  other 
tendencies  in  American  education.  It  describes  the  organi- 
zation and  influence  of  each  type  of  formal  school ;  it  takes 
note  of  the  more  informal  and  popular  organizations  for 
popular  education  and  instruction ;  it  discusses  the  educa- 
tional problems  raised  by  the  existence  of  special  classes 
and  of  special  needs,  and  sets  forth  how  the  United  States 
has  set  about  solving  these  problems.  It  may  truly  be  said 
to  be  a  cross-section  view  of  education  in  the  United  States 
in  1900. 

NICHOLAS  MURRAY  BUTLER 

Columbia  University,  New  York 
March  i,  1900 


V 


Department   of  Education 

FOR  THE 

United    States   Commission    to    the    Paris    Exposition    of   1900 


MONOGRAPHS    ON     EDUCATION 

IN   THE 

UNITKD     STATKS 

edited  by 

NICHOLAS  MURRAY  BUTLER 

Professor  of  Philosophy  and  Education  in  Columbia  University,  New  York 


\ 

EDUCATIONAL   ORGANIZATION 

AND 

administration 

BY 

ANDREW  SLOANE  DRAPER 
President  of  the  University  of  Illinois 


This  Monograph  is  cohtribittbd  to  thc  United  States  Educational  Exhibit  bv  tux 

State  of  New  York 


v-t 
EDUCATIONAL  ORGANIZATION  AND 

ADMINISTRATION 

INTRODUCTORY 

Any  treatment  of  the  legal  organization  and  the  authori- 
tative methods  of  administration  by  which  the  great  public 
educational  system  of  the  United  States  is  carried  on  must 
almost  necessarily  be  opened  by  a  statement  of  the  salient 
points  in  the  evolution  of  that  system,  for  the  form  of  organi- 
zation and  the  laws  governing  the  operations  of  the  schools 
have  not  preceded,  but  followed  and  been  determined  by  the 
educational  movements  of  the  people  and  the  necessities  of 
the  case. 

\  The  first  white  settlers  who  came  to  America  in  the  early 
part  of  the  seventeenth  century  were  from  the  European 
peoples,  who  were  more  advanced  in  civilization  than  any 
others  in  the  world.  Each  of  the  nations  first  represented 
had  already  made  some  progress  in  the  direction  of  popular 
education.  Such  educational  ideals  as  these  different  peo- 
ples possessed  had  resulted  from  historic  causes,  and  were 
very  unlike.  The  influence  more  potent  than  any  others  in 
determining  the  character  of  American  civic  institutions 
were  English  .and  Dutch./  The  English  government  was  a 
constitutional  monarchy,  but  still  a  monarchy,  and  the  con- 
stitutional limitations  were  neither  so  many  nor  so  strong 
as  later  popular  revolutions  have  made  them.  English 
thought  accepted  class  distinctions  among  the  people.  The 
advantages  of  education  were  for  the  favored  class,  the 
nobility.  The  common  people  expected  little.  Colleges 
and  fitting  schools  were  maintained  for  the  training  of  young 
men  of  noble  birth  for  places  under  the  government  and  in 
the  government  church,  but  there  were  no  common  schools 
for  all.     The  nobility  were  opposed  to  general  education  lest 


4  EDUCATIONAL  ORGANIZATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION  [4 

the  masses  would  come  to  recognize  God-given  rights  and 
demand  them,  and  the  masses  were  yet  too  illiterate  to 
understand  and  enforce  the  inalienable  rights  of  human 
nature.  The  Dutch  had  gone  farther  than  the  English  ; 
they  had  just  waged  a  long  and  dreadful  and  successful  war 
for  liberty,  and  with  all  its  horrors  war  has  uniformly  sharp- 
ened the  intelligence  of  a  people.  This  war  for  civil  and 
religious  liberty  had  enlarged  their  freedom  and  quickened 
their  activities  ;  they  had  become  the  greatest  sailors  and  the 
foremost  manufacturers  in  the  world ;  and  they  had  estab- 
lished the  government  policy  of  maintaining  not  only  col- 
leges, but  common  schools  for  all. 

The  first  permanent  white  settlers  in  the  United  States 
were  English  and  Dutch.  In  the  beginning  they  had  no 
thought  of  ceasing  to  be  Englishmen  and  loyal  subjects  of  the 
English  monarchy,  or  Dutchmen  with  permanent  fellowship 
in  the  Dutch  Republic.  They  each  brought  their  national 
educational  ideas  with  them.  Each  people  was  strongly 
influenced  by  religious  feelings,  and  life  in  a  new  land  inten- 
sified those  feelings.  The  English  in  Massachusetts  were 
at  the  beginning  very  like  the  English  in  England.  The 
larger  and  wealthier  and  more  truly  English  colony  recog- 
nized class  distinctions  and  followed  the  English  educational 
policy.  They  first  set  up  a  college  to  train  their  aristocracy 
for  places  in  the  state  and  the  church,  and  for  a  considerable 
time  their  ministers,  either  at  the  church  or  in  the  homes, 
taught  the  children  enough  to  read  the  Bible  and  acquire  the 
catechism.  The  Dutch,  more  democratic,  with  smaller  num- 
bers and  less  means,  and  more  dependent  upon  their  govern- 
ment over  the  sea,  at  once  set  up  elementary  schools  at  public 
cost  and  common  to  all.  In  a  few  years  the  English  over- 
threw the  little  Dutch  government  and  almost  obliterated 
the  elementary  schools.  For  a  century  the  English  royal 
governors  and  the  Dutch  colonial  legislatures  struggled 
over  the  matter  of  common  schools.  The  government  was 
too  strong  for  the  humble  people ;  little  educational  progress 
was  made.     Near  the  close  of  that  century  the  government 


r]  EDUCATIONAL  ORGANIZATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION  5 

established  King's  college  to  educate  sons  of  noble  birth 
and  prevent  the  spread  of  republican  ideas.  The  Revolu- 
tion of  1776  changed  all.  In  fighting  together  for  national 
independence  the  different  peoples  assimilated  and  became 
Americans  in  the  new  sense.  They  not  only  combined  their 
forces  in  war,  but  in  peace  they  combined  the  enlarged  intel- 
ligence which  the  war  had  brought  to  them.  They  realized 
that  education  in  all  Its  phases  and  grades  must  be  encour- 
aged, and,  so  far  as  practicable,  made  universal  under  a  democ- 
racy in  which  the  rights  of  opportunity  were  to  be  equal. 

But  while  they  began  to  be  interested  in  education  it  was 
because  they  saw  that  schools  would  help  the  individual  and 
so  promote  virtue  and  extend  religion.  It  did  not  occur  to 
them  at  the  first  that  the  safety  of  the  new  form  of  govern- 
ment was  associated  with  the  diffusion  of  learning  among  all 
the  people.  This  is  not  strange,  for  the  suffrage  was  not 
universal  at  the  beginning  of  independent  government  in 
America.  Therefore,  while  the  desirability  of  education  was 
recognized,  it  was  understood  to  be  the  function  of  parents 
to  provide  it  for  their  children,  or  of  guardians  and  masters 
to  extend  it  to  their  wards  and  apprentices.  When  schools 
were  first  established  they  were  partnership  affairs  between 
people  who  had  children  in  their  care,  and  for  their  con- 
venience. They  apportioned  the  expense  among  themselves ; 
such  as  had  no  children  were  without  much  concern  about 
the  matter. 

It  was  soon  seen  that  many  who  had  children  to  educate 
would  neglect  them  in  order  to  avoid  the  expense  of  con- 
tributing to  the  support  of  the  school.  Aside  from  this  the 
schools  were  very  indifferent  affairs.  If  they  were  to  be  of 
any  account  they  must  have  recognition  and  encouragement 
from  government.  It  was  easily  conceived  to  be  a  function 
of  government  to  encourage  schools.  Encouragement  was 
given  by  official  and  legislative  declarations  in  their  behalf 
and  then  by  authorizing  townships  to  use  funds  derived  from 
excise  fees  and  other  sources  for  the  benefit  of  the  schools 
when  not  otherwise  needed.     It  was  a  greater  step  to  attempt 


6  EDUCATIONAL  ORGANIZATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION  [6 

to  say  that  townships  should  require  people,  who  had  chil- 
dren to  educate,  to  maintain  schools,  and  a  still  greater  one 
to  adopt  the  principle  that  every  child  was  entitled  to  at  least 
an  elementary  education  as  of  right,  that  this  was  as  much 
for  the  safety  of  the  state  as  for  the  good  of  the  child,  that 
therefore  the  state  was  bound  to  see  that  schools  were  pro- 
vided for  all,  and  that  all  the  property  of  all  the  people 
should  contribute  alike  to  their  support.  Perhaps  it  was 
even  a  greater  step  to  provide  secondary  and  collegiate,  and 
in  many  cases  professional  and  technical,  training  at  the 
public  cost.  But  these  great  positions  were  in  time  firmly 
taken. 

There  was  nothing  like  an  educational  system  in  the 
United  States  at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
At  that  time  there  were  four  or  five  colleges,  here  and  there 
a  private  academy  or  fitting  school,  and  elementary  schools 
of  indifferent  character  in  the  cities  and  the  thinly  settled 
towns.  In  the  course  of  the  century  a  great  system  of 
schools  has  come  to  cover  the  land.  It  is  free  and  flexible, 
adaptable  to  local  conditions,  and  yet  it  possesses  most  of 
the  elements  of  a  complete  and  symmetrical  system.  The 
parts  or  grades  of  this  system  may  perhaps  be  designated 
as  follows : 

a)  Free  public  elementary  schools  in  reach  of  every  home 
in  the  land. 

b)  Free  public  high  schools,  or  secondary  schools,  in 
every  considerable  town. 

c)  Free  land  grant  colleges,  with  special  reference  to  the 
agricultural  and  mechanical  arts,  in  all  the  states. 

d)  Free  state  universities  in  practically  all  of  the  southern 
states  and  all  the  states  west  of  Pennsylvania. 

e)  Free  normal  schools,  or  training  schools  for  teachers, 
in  practically  every  state. 

f)  Free  schools  for  defectives,  in  substantially  all  of  the 
states. 

g)  National  academies  for  training  officers  for  the  army 
and  navy. 


yl  EDUCATIONAL  ORGANIZATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION  7 

h)  A  vast  number  of  private  kindergartens,  music  and 
art  schools,  commercial  schools,  industrial  schools,  profes- 
sional schools,  denominational  colleges,  with  a  half  dozen 
leading  and  privately  endowed  universities. 

This  mighty  educational  system  has  developed  with  the 
growth  of  towns  and  cities  and  states.  It  has  been  shaped 
by  the  advancing  sagacity  of  the  people.  Above  all  other 
of  American  civic  institutions,  it  has  been  the  one  most 
expressive  of  the  popular  will  and  the  common  purposes. 
Everywhere  it  is  held  in  the  control  of  the  people,  and  so  far 
as  practicable  in  the  control  of  local  assemblages.  While 
the  tendencies  of  later  years  have,  from  necessities,  been 
towards  centralization  of  management,  the  conspicuous  char- 
acteristic of  the  systems  has  always  been  the  extent  to  which 
the  elementary  and  secondary  schools  are  controlled  and 
directed  by  each  community.  The  inherent  and  universal 
disposition  in  this  direction  has  favored  general  school  laws 
and  yielded  to  centralized  administration  only  so  far  as  has 
come  to  be  necessary  to  life,  efficiency  and  growth.  But 
circumstances  have  made  this  necessary  to  a  very  consider- 
able extent. 

Bearing  in  mind  the  historic  facts  touching  the  develop- 
ment of  the  school  system,  we  may  proceed  to  consider  the 
legal  organization  and  authoritative  scheme  of  administra- 
tion which  have  arisen  therefrom.  We  will  begin  with  the 
most  elementary  and  decentralized  form  of  organization  and 
proceed  to  the  more  general  and  concentrated  ones,  following 
the  steps  which  have  marked  the  growth  of  the  system  in  a 
general  way,  but  with  no  thought  of  tracing  the  particular 
lines  of  educational  advancement  in  the  several  states. 

THE    SCHOOL    DISTRICT 

The  "  school  district "  is  the  oldest  and  tne  most  primary 
form  of  school  organization.  Indeed,  it  is  the  smallest  civil 
division  of  our  political  system.  It  lesulted  from  the  natural 
disposition  of  neighboring  families  to  associate  together  for 
the  maintenance  of  a  school.     Later  it  was  recognized  by 


8  EDUCATIONAL  ORGANIZATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION  [8 

law  and  given  some  legal  functions  and  responsibilities. 
Its  territorial  extent  is  no  larger  than  will  permit  of  all  the 
children  attending  a  single  school,  although  it  sometimes 
happens  that  in  sparsely  settled  country  the  children  have  to 
go  several  miles  to  school.  It  ordinarily  accommodates  but 
a  few  families :  districts  have  had  legal  existence  with  but 
one  family  in  each  :  many  with  not  more  than  a  half  dozen 
families.  It  is  better  adapted  to  the  circumstances  of  the 
country  than  to  those  of  the  town  or  city.  A  different  form 
has  been  provided  for  the  considerable  towns,  and  still 
another  for  the  cities  as  they  have  developed.  The  "  district 
system "  is  in  operation  in  most  of  the  states,  and  in  such 
the  number  of  districts  extends  into  the  thousands.  In  New 
York,  for  example,  there  are  over  eleven  thousand  and  in 
Illinois  over  twelve  thousand  school  districts. 

The  government  of  the  school  district  is  the  most  simple 
and  democratic  that  can  be  imagined.  It  is  controlled  by 
school  meetings  composed  of  the  resident  legal  voters.  In 
many  of  the  states  women  have  been  constituted  legal  voters 
at  school  meetings.  These  meetings  are  held  at  least 
annually  and  as  much  oftener  as  may  be  desired.  They 
may  vote  needed  repairs  to  the  primitive  schoolhouse  and 
desirable  appliances  for  the  school.  They  may  decide  to 
erect  a  new  schoolhouse.  They  may  elect  officers,  one  or 
more,  commonly  called  trustees  or  directors,  who  must  carry 
out  their  directions  and  who  are  required  by  law  to  employ 
the  teacher  and  have  general  oversight  of  the  school. 
Although  the  law  ordinarily  gives  the  trustees  free  discre- 
tion in  the  appointment  of  teachers,  provided  only  that  a 
person  duly  certificated  must  be  appointed,  yet  it  not  infre- 
quently happens  that  the  district  controls  the  selection  of 
the  teacher  through  the  election  of  trustees  with  known 
preferences. 

Much  has  been  said  against  the  district  system,  and  doubt- 
less much  that  has  been  said  has  been  justified.  At  the 
same  time  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  system  has  had  much 
to  commend  it.     It  has  suited  the  conditions  of  country  life  : 


9] 


EDUCATIONAL  ORGANIZATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION 


it  has  resulted  in  schools  adapted  to  the  thought  and  wants 
of  farming  people :  it  has  done  something  to  educate  the 
people  themselves,  parents  as  well  as  children,  in  civic  spirit 
and  patriotism  :  and  it  has  afforded  a  meeting  place  for  the 
people  within  comfortable  reach  of  every  home.  The  school 
has  not  always  been  the  best,  but  it  has  been  ordinarily  as 
good  as  a  free  and  primitive  people  would  sustain  or  could 
profit  by.  It  is  true  that  the  teachers  have  generally 
been  young  and  inexperienced,  but  they  have  not  yet  been 
trained  into  mechanical  automatons,  and  as  a  rule  they  have 
been  the  most  promising  young  people  in  the  world,  the 
ones  who,  a  few  years  later,  have  been  the  makers  of  opinion 
and  the  leaders  of  action  upon  a  considerable  field.  Cer- 
tainly the  work  has  lacked  system,  continuity  and  progres- 
siveness,  the  pupils  have  commenced  at  the  same  place  in  the 
book  many  times  and  never  advanced  a  great  distance,  but, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  children  in  the  country  schools  have 
had  the  home  training  and  the  free,  natural  life  which  has 
developed  strong  qualities  in  character  and  individual  initia- 
tive in  large  measure,  and  so  have  not  suffered  seriously,  in 
comparison  with  the  children  living  in  the  towns.  The  dis- 
trict system  has  sufficed  well  for  them  and  it  has  otherwise 
been  of  much  advantage  to  the  people ;  and  with  all  its 
shortcomings,  or  the  abuses  that  are  common  where  it  pre- 
vails, they  are  hardly  worse  than  are  found  under  more  pre- 
tentious systems.  Surely  the  **  American  District  School 
System  "  is  to  be  spoken  of  with  respect,  for  it  has  exerted  a 
marked  influence  upon  our  citizenship,  and  has  given  strong 
and  wholesome  impulses  in  all  the  affairs  of  the  nation. 

THE    TOWNSHIP    SYSTEM 

While  in  the  first  half  of  the  century  the  general  educa 
tional  purpose  seems  to  have  been  to  make  the  district  sys- 
tem more  perfect,  the  tendency  in  the  latter  half  has  unmis- 
takably been  to  merge  it  into  a  more  pretentious  organization, 
covering  a  larger  area,  and  capable  of  larger  undertakings. 
The  cause  of  this  has  been  the  desire  for  larger   schools, 


lO         EDUCATIONAL  ORGANIZATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION       [iq 

taught  by  teachers  better  prepared,  and  capable  of  broader 
and  better  work,  as  well  as  the  purpose  to  distribute  educa- 
tional advantages  more  evenly  to  all  the  people.  Accord- 
ingly, in  most  of  the  states  there  has  been  a  serious  discus- 
sion of  the  relative  advantages  of  the  township  as  against 
the  district  system,  and  in  quite  a  number  of  the  states  the 
former  has  already  supplanted  the  latter. 

The  township  system  makes  the  township  the  unit  of 
school  government.  It  is  administered  by  officers  chosen  at 
annual  town  meetings,  or  sometimes  by  central  boards,  the 
members  of  which  are  chosen  by  the  electors  of  different 
sub-districts.  In  any  event,  the  board  has  charge  of  all  the 
elementary  schools  of  the  township,  and  if  there  is  one,  as 
is  frequently  the  case,  of  the  township  high  school.  The 
board,  following  the  different  statutes  governing  them  and 
the  authorized  directions  of  the  township  school  electors, 
provides  the  buildings  and  cares  for  them,  supplies  the 
needed  furnishings  and  appliances,  employs  the  teachers,  and 
regulates  the  general  operations  of  the  school. 

It  is  at  once  seen  that  the  township  system  is  much  less 
formally  democratic  and  much  more  centralized  than  the  dis- 
trict system.  It  has  doubtless  produced  better  schools  and 
schools  of  more  uniform  excellence.  One  of  its  most  benefi- 
cent influences  has  been  the  multiplication  of  township  high 
schools,  in  which  all  the  children  of  the  township  have  had 
equality  of  rights.  These  high  schools  have  given  an  uplift- 
ing stimulus  to  all  the  elementary  schools  of  the  township, 
and  have  led  all  the  children  to  see  that  the  work  of  the 
local  school  is  not  all  there  is  of  education,  and  given  many 
of  them  ambitions  to  master  the  course  of  the  secondary 
school. 

Very  much  has  been  said  upon  the  subject,  but  it  is  not 
necessary  to  go  into  it  at  length  here.  The  township  sys- 
tem has  many  advantages  over  the  district  system  for  a  people 
who  are  ready  for  it.  It  is  adapted  to  the  development  and 
to  the  administration  of  a  higher  grade  of  schools  and  very 
likely  to  better  schools  of  all  grades.     It  is  a  step,  and  an 


Il]        EDUCATIONAL  ORGANIZATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION  II 

important  step,  towards  that  general  centralization  in  man- 
agement and  greater  uniformity  of  improved  methods  of 
supervision  and  instruction  now  so  manifest  throughout  the 
school  system  of  the  United  States. 

THE   COUNTY    SYSTEM 

The  southern  states,  most  if  not  all  of  them,  have  a 
county  system  of  school  administration.  This  has  not 
resulted  from  the  development  of  the  school  system,  but 
from  the  general  system  of  county  rather  than  township 
government  prevalent  in  all  the  affairs  of  the  southern 
states  from  the  beginning,  and  easily  traceable  to  historic 
causes.  The  county  is  the  unit  of  school  government  in 
the  southern  states,  because  it  has  been  the  unit  of  all 
government. 

The  county  system  is  not  constituted  identically  in  all  of 
the  southern  states  of  the  union.  In  Georgia,  for  example, 
the  grand  jury  of  each  county  selects  from  the  freeholders 
five  persons  to  comprise  the  county  board  of  education  ;  in 
North  Carolina  the  justices  of  the  peace  and  county  com- 
missioners of  each  county  appoint  such  a  county  board  of 
education,  while  in  Florida  such  a  board  is  elected  by  the 
people  biennially,  and  in  some  states  a  county  commissioner 
or  superintendent  of  schools  is  the  responsible  authority  for 
managing  the  schools  of  the  county.  In  Georgia  "each 
county  shall  constitute  one  school  district,"  but  in  several  of 
the  states  the  county  board  or  superintendent  divides  the 
territory  into  sub-districts  and  appoints  trustees  or  directors 
in  each.  In  the  latter  case  the  local  trustees  seem  to  be 
ministerial  officers  carrying  out  the  policy  of  the  county 
board.  In  any  case  the  unit  of  territory  for  the  administra- 
tion of  the  schools  is  the  county,  and  county  officials  locate 
sites,  provide  buildings,  select  text-books,  prescribe  the 
course  of  work,  examine  and  appoint  teachers,  and  do  all  the 
things  which  are  within  the  functions  of  district  or  township 
trustees  or  city  boards  of  education  in  the  northern  states. 


12         EDUCATIONAL  ORGANIZATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION       [i2 


THE   CITY    SCHOOL    SYSTEMS 

As  communities  have  increased  in  population  they  have 
outgrown  any  primary  or  elementary  system  of  organization 
for  school  purposes.  Laws  of  general  application  or  com- 
mon usage  in  a  county  sparsely  settled  would  not  suffice  for 
a  city  of  many  thousands  of  people.  In  such  cities  the  peo- 
ple could  not  meet  to  fix  the  policies  and  manage  the  busi- 
ness of  the  schools :  they  could  not  meet  even  to  choose 
officers  to  manage  the  schools.  So  the  state  legislatures 
have  made  special  laws  to  meet  the  circumstances  of  the 
larger  places.  In  some  states  these  laws  are  uniform  for  all 
cities  of  a  certain  class,  that  is,  cities  having  populations  of 
about  the  same  number,  but  more  often  each  city  has  gone 
to  the  legislature  and  procured  the  enactment  of  such  stat- 
utes as  seemed  suited  to  the  immediate  circumstances. 

Because  of  this  there  is  no  uniform  or  general  system  of 
public  school  administration  in  the  American  cities.  Of 
course  there  are  some  points  of  similarity.  In  nearly  every 
case  there  is  a  board  of  education  charged  with  the  manage- 
ment of  the  schools,  but  these  boards  are  constituted  in 
almost  as  many  different  ways  as  there  are  different  cities, 
and  their  legal  functions  are  as  diverse  as  there  is  diversity 
in  cities.  In  the  city  of  Buffalo,  New  York  state,  the  school 
affairs  are  managed  by  a  committee  appointed  by  the  city 
council,  but  happily  this  case  stands  by  itself,  and  the  evil 
consequences  possible  under  such  a  scheme  have  been  much 
ameliorated  in  this  particular  case  for  the  last  half  dozen 
years  by  a  most  excellent  superintendent  of  schools,  elected 
by  the  people  of  that  city. 

In  the  greater  number  of  cities  the  boards  of  education 
are  elected  by  the  people,  in  some  cases  on  a  general  city 
ticket,  and  again  by  wards  or  sub-districts ;  in  some  places  at 
a  general  or  municipal  election,  and  in  others  at  elections 
held  for  the  particular  purpose.  But  in  many  cities,  and 
particularly  the  larger  ones,  the  boards  are  appointed  by 
the  mayor  alone,  or  by  the  mayor  and  city  council  acting 


13]        EDUCATIONAL  ORGANIZATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION  1 3 

jointly.  In  the  city  of  Philadelphia  the  board  is  appointed 
by  the  city  judges,  in  Pittsburgh  by  local  directors,  and  in 
New  Orleans  by  the  state  board  of  education.  In  a  few- 
instances  the  board  is  appointed  by  the  city  councils. 

In  the  city  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  the  board  of  education 
consists  of  two  branches :  a  school  director  elected  by  the 
people  for  the  term  of  two  years,  and  a  school  council  of 
seven  members,  likewise  elected  by  the  people  in  three  groups 
with  terms  of  three  years  each.  This  scheme  was  devised 
in  1892  by  prominent  business  men  of  the  city,  and,  having 
been  enacted  by  the  legislature,  has  been  in  very  satisfac- 
tory operation  since. 

It  must  be  said  that  there  has  been  much  dissatisfaction 
with  the  way  school  affairs  have  been  managed  in  the  larger 
cities.  In  the  smaller  places,  even  in  cities  of  a  hundred 
thousand  or  more  inhabitants,  matters  have  gone  well  enough 
as  a  general  rule,  but  in  the  greater  cities  there  have  been 
many  and  serious  complaints  of  the  misuse  of  funds,  of 
neglect  of  property,  of  the  appointment  of  unfit  teachers, 
and  of  general  incapacity,  or  worse,  on  the  part  of  the 
boards.  Of  course  it  is  notorious  that  the  public  business 
of  American  cities  has  very  commonly  been  badly  managed. 
It  would  not  be  true  to  say  that  the  business  of  the  schools 
has  suffered  as  seriously  as  municipal  business,  but  it  cer- 
tainly has  been  managed  badly  enough. 

All  this  has  come  from  the  amounts  of  money  that  are 
involved  and  the  number  of  appointments  that  are  con- 
stantly to  be  made.  More  than  a  hundred  millions  of 
dollars  are  paid  annually  for  teachers'  wages  alone  in  the 
United  States.  People  who  are  needy  have  sought  positions 
as  teachers  without  much  reference  to  preparation,  and  the 
kindly  disposed  have  aided  them  without  any  apparent  appre- 
ciation of  the  injury  they  were  doing  to  the  highest  interests 
of  their  neighbors.  Men  engaged  in  managing  the  organi- 
zations of  the  different  political  parties  have  undertaken  to 
control  appointments  in  the  interests  of  their  party  machines. 
And  the  downright  scoundrels  have  infested  the  school 
organization  in  some  places  for  the  sake  of  plunder. 


14         EDUCATIONAL  ORGANIZATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION      [14 

As  cities  have  grown  in  size  and  multiplied  in  numbers, 
the  more  scandal  there  has  been.  And  American  cities  have 
grown  marvelously.  In  1790  there  was  but  one  having 
between  eight  and  twelve  thousand  inhabitants:  in  1890 
there  were  one  hundred  and  forty-seven  such.  By  the  census 
of  the  latter  year  there  were  fourteen  cities  having  between 
seventy-five  thousand  and  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  thou- 
sand inhabitants.  Now  there  are  certainly  a  dozen  with 
more  than  a  half  million  of  people  each.  The  aggregate 
population  of  a  dozen  cities  exceeds  the  aggregate  popula- 
tion of  twenty  states.  But  if  the  troubles  have  multiplied 
and  intensified  as  the  cities  have  grown,  so  has  the  determi- 
nation of  the  people  strengthened  to  remedy  the  difficulties. 

There  has  been  no  more  decided  and  no  more  healthy 
educational  movement  in  the  United  States  in  recent  years, 
and  none  with  greater  or  more  strongly  intrenched  obstacles 
in  its  way,  than  that  for  better  school  organization  and 
administration  in  the  larger  cities.  Its  particular  features 
or  objective  points  are  pointed  out  by  the  committee  of  fif- 
teen of  the  National  educational  association  in  the  following 
declarations : 

"  In  concluding  this  portion  of  the  report,  the  committee 
indicates  briefly  the  principles  which  must  necessarily  be 
observed  in  framing  a  plan  of  organization  and  government 
in  a  large  city  school  system. 

First.  The  affairs  of  the  school  should  not  be  mixed  up 
with  partisan  contests  or  municipal  business. 

Second.  There  should  be  a  sharp  distinction  between  leg- 
islative functions  and  executive  duties. 

Third.  Legislative  functions  should  be  clearly  fixed  by 
statute  and  be  exercised  by  a  comparatively  small  board, 
each  member  of  which  is  representative  of  the  whole  city. 
This  board,  within  statutory  limitations,  should  determine 
the  policy  of  the  system,  levy  taxes,  and  control  the  expendi- 
tures. It  should  make  no  appointments.  Every  act  should 
be  by  a  recorded  resolution.  It  seems  preferable  that  this 
board  be  created  by  appointment  rather  than  election,  and 


15]        EDUCATIONAL  ORGANIZATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION  1 5 

that  it  be  constituted  of  two  branches  acting  against  each 
other. 

Fourth.  Administration  should  be  separated  into  two 
great  independent  departments,  one  of  which  manages  the 
business  interests  and  the  other  of  which  supervises  the 
instruction.  Each  of  these  should  be  wholly  directed  by  a 
single  official  who  is  vested  with  ample  authority  and  charged 
with  full  responsibility  for  sound  administration. 

Fifth.  The  chief  executive  officer  on  the  business  side 
should  be  charged  with  the  care  of  all  property  and  with  the 
duty  of  keeping  it  in  suitable  condition  :  he  should  provide 
all  necessary  furnishings  and  appliances  :  he  should  make  all 
agreements  and  see  that  they  are  properly  performed :  he 
should  appoint  all  assistants,  janitors,  and  workmen.  In  a 
word,  he  should  do  all  that  the  law  contemplates  and  all  that 
the  board  authorizes,  concerning  the  business  affairs  of  the 
school  system,  and  when  anything  goes  wrong  he  should 
answer  for  it.  He  may  be  appointed  by  the  board,  but  we 
think  it  preferable  that  he  be  chosen  in  the  same  way  the 
members  of  the  board  are  chosen,  and  be  given  a  veto  upon 
the  acts  of  the  board. 

Sixth.  The  chief  executive  officer  of  the  department  of 
instruction  should  be  given  a  long  term  and  may  be  appointed 
by  the  board.  If  the  board  is  constituted  of  two  branches, 
he  should  be  nominated  by  the  business  executive  and  con- 
firmed by  the  legislative  branch.  Once  appointed  he  should 
be  independent.  He  should  appoint  all  authorized  assist- 
ants and  teachers  from  an  eligible  list  to  be  constituted  as 
provided  by  law.  He  should  assign  to  duties  and  discon- 
tinue services  for  cause,  at  his  discretion.  He  should  deter- 
mine all  matters  relating  to  instruction.  He  should  be 
charged  with  the  responsibility  of  developing  a  professional 
and  enthusiastic  teaching  force,  and  of  making  all  the  teach- 
ing scientific  and  forceful.  He  must  perfect  the  organization 
of  his  department  and  make  and  carry  out  plans  to  accom- 
plish this.  If  he  cannot  do  this  in  a  reasonable  time  he 
should  be  superseded  by  one  who  can." 


1 6         EDUCATIONAL  ORGANIZATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION       [i6 

It  ought  to  oe  said  before  passing  from  this  phase  of  the 
subject  that  these  principles  have  made  much  headway,  and 
that  the  promise  is  excellent.  There  is  not  a  city  of  any 
importance  in  the  country  in  which  they  are  not  under  dis- 
cussion, and  there  are  few  in  which  some  of  them  have  not 
been  adopted  and  put  in  operation. 

The  powers  of  the  city  boards  of  education  are  very 
broad,  almost  without  limits  as  to  the  management  of  the 
schools.  They  commonly  do  everything  but  decide  the 
amount  of  money  which  shall  be  raised  for  the  schools,  and 
in  some  cases  even  that  high  prerogative  is  left  to  them. 
They  purchase  new  sites,  determine  the  plans  and  erect  new 
buildings,  provide  for  maintenance,  appoint  officers  and 
teachers,  fix  salaries,  make  promotions,  ind,  acting  within 
very  few  and  slight  constitutional  or  statutory  limitations, 
enact  all  of  the  regulations  for  the  control  of  the  vast  system. 

The  high  powers,  cheerfully  given  by  the  people  to  school 
boards,  have  arisen  from  the  earnest  desire  that  the  schools 
shall  be  independent  and  the  teaching  of  the  best.  Of 
course  these  independent  and  large  prerogatives  are  exceed- 
ingly advantageous  to  educational  progress  when  exercised 
by  good  men  :  when  they  fall  into  the  hands  of  weak  or  bad 
men  they  are  equally  capable  of  being  put  to  the  worst  uses. 
And  it  is  not  to  be  disguised  that  in  some  of  the  foremost 
cities  they  have  fallen  into  some  hands  which  are  corrupt, 
but  more  often  into  the  hands  of  men  of  excellent  personal 
character,  but  who  do  not  see  the  importance  of  applying 
pedagogical  principles  to  instruction,  and  who  are,  in  one 
way  or  another,  used  by  designing  persons  for  partizan,  self- 
ish or  corrupt  purposes.  Of  course  it  is  not  to  be  implied 
that  there  are  not  to  be  found  in  every  school  board  men  or 
women  with  clear  heads  and  stout  hearts  who  understand  the 
essential  principles  of  sound  school  administration  and  are 
courageously  contending  for  them.  Nor  must  the  serious 
difficulty  of  holding  together  pupils  from  such  widely  differ- 
ent homes  in  common  schools  be  lost  sight  of.  And  again, 
the  obstacles  in  the  way  of  choosing  and  training  a  teaching 


1 7]       EDUCATIONAL  ORGANIZATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION         I7 

force  of  thousands  of  persons,  and  of  continually  energizing 
the  entire  body  with  new  pedagogical  life,  must  be  remem- 
bered. And  yet  again,  the  dangers  of  corruption  where 
millions  of  dollars  are  being  annually  disbursed  by  boards 
which  are  practically  independent,  are  apparent.  But,  not^ 
withstanding  all  of  the  hindrances,  the  issue  is  being  joined 
and  the  battle  will  be  fought  out  to  a  successful  result. 
There  can  be  but  one  outcome.  The  forces  of  decency  and 
progress  always  prevail  in  the  end. 

The  demands  of  the  intelligent  and  sincere  friends  of 
popular  education  in  our  great  cities  are  for  a  more  scientific 
plan  of  organization  which  shall  separate  legislative  and 
executive  functions,  which  shall  put  the  interests  of  teachers 
upon  the  merit  basis  and  leave  them  free  to  apply  pedagogi- 
cal principles  to  the  instruction,  which  shall  give  authority  to 
do  what  is  needed  and  protect  officers  and  teachers,  while  it 
locates  responsibility  and  provides  the  way  for  ousting  the 
incompetent  or  the  corrupt.  The  trouble  has  been  that  the 
boards  were  independent  and  the  machine  so  ponderous  and 
the  prerogatives  and  responsibilities  of  officials  so  confused 
that  people  who  were  aggrieved  could  not  get  a  hearing  or 
could  not  secure  redress,  perhaps  for  the  reason  that  no  one 
official  had  the  power  to  afford  redress.  What  is  demanded 
and  what  is  apparently  coming  is  a  more  perfect  system, 
which  will  give  one  credit  for  good  work  in  the  schools  and 
enable  a  parent  to  point  his  finger  at  and  procure  the  dis- 
missal of  one  who  inflicts  upon  his  child  a  school  room 
which  is  not  wholesome  and  healthful,  or  a  teacher  who  is 
physically,  pedagogically  or  morally  unfit  to  train  his  child. 

THE    STATES   AND    THE    SCHOOLS 

Since  the  American  school  system  has  come  to  be  sup- 
ported wholly  by  taxation,  it  has  come  to  depend  upon  the 
exercise  of  a  sovereign  power.  In  the  United  States  the 
sovereign  powers  are  not  all  lodged  in  one  place.  Such  as 
have  not  been  ceded  to  the  general  government  are  retained 
by  the  states.     The  provision  and  supervision  of  schools  is 

2 


/ 


1 8  EDUCATIONAL  ORGANIZATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION        [l8 

one  of  these.  Hence  the  school  system,  while  marked  by- 
many  characteristics  which  are  common  throughout  the 
country,  has  a  legal  organization  peculiar  to  each  state. 

The  dependence  upon  state  authority  which  has  thus 
arisen  has  gone  farther  than  anything  else  towards  the 
development  of  a  system  and  towards  the  equalization  of 
school  privileges  to  the  people  of  the  same  state.  Naturally 
indisposed  to  relinquish  the  management  of  their  own  school 
affairs  in  their  own  way,  they  have  been  obliged  to  bow  to 
the  authority  of  their  states,  in  so  far  as  the  state  saw  fit  to 
assert  its  authority,  because  they  could  not  act  without  it,  as 
counties,  cities,  townships  and  districts  have  no  power  what- 
ever to  levy  taxes  for  school  purposes  except  as  authorized  by 
the  state.  They  have  become  reconciled  to  the  interven- 
tion of  state  authority,  moreover,  as  they  have  seen  that 
such  authority  improved  the  schools. 

Of  such  improvement  by  such  intervention  there  can  be 
no  doubt.  In  many  cases  state  school  funds  have  been 
created,  or  large  sums  are  raised  by  general  levy  each  year, 
which  are  distributed  so  as  to  give  the  most  aid  to  the  sec- 
tions which  are  poorest  and  most  need  it.  In  the  state  of 
New  York,  for  example,  the  cities  pay  more  than  half  a  mil- 
lion of  dollars  every  year  to  the  support  of  the  schools  in 
the  country  districts.  In  practically  all  of  the  states  excel- 
lent normal  schools  are  maintained  to  prepare  teachers  for 
the  elementary  and  secondary  schools.  In  all  of  the  south- 
ern and  western  states  great  state  universities  are  sustained 
as  parts  of  the  state  school  systems.  In  ten  universities  of 
the  North-Central  division  of  states  there  are  twenty  thou- 
sand students  in  college  and  professional  courses,  and  the 
work  is  of  as  high  grade  and  of  as  broad  range  as  in  the 
oldest  universities  of  the  country.  These  things  are  exert- 
ing strong  influences  upon  the  sentiment  of  the  people  of 
the  different  states  and  increasing  their  respect  for  the 
authority  of  their  states  over  their  schools. 

And  the  application  of  state  authority  to  all  of  the  schools 
supported  by  public  moneys  of  course  makes  them  more 


1 9]        EDUCATIONAL  ORGANIZATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION  1 9 

alike  and  better.  The  whims  of  local  settlements  disappear. 
The  schoolhouses  are  better.  More  is  done  for  the  prepara- 
tion of  teachers,  and  more  uniform  exactions  are  put  upon 
candidates  for  the  teaching  service.  The  courses  of  study 
are  more  quickly  and  symmetrically  improved.  There  is 
criticism  and  stimulus  from  a  common  center  for  all  of  the 
educational  work  of  the  state. 

The  different  states  have  gone  to  very  different  lengths 
in  exercising  their  authority.  The  length  to  which  each  has 
gone  has  depended  upon  the  necessity  of  state  intervention 
by  the  exercise  of  the  taxing  power,  or  of  delegating  that 
power  to  subdivisions  of  the  territory,  and  upon  the  senti- 
ment of  the  people.  In  most  cases  it  has  been  determined 
by  the  location  of  the  point  of  equipose  between  necessity 
and  free  consent.  The  state  government  has,  of  course, 
not  been  disposed  to  go  farther  than  the  people  were  willing, 
for  all  government  is  by  the  people.  The  thought  of  the 
people  in  the  different  states  has  been  somewhat  influenced 
by  considerations  which  arise  out  of  their  early  history,  but 
doubtless  in  most  cases  it  is  predicated  upon  their  later 
experiences. 

All  of  the  state  constitutions  now  contain  provisions 
relating  to  popular  education.  This  was  not  true  of  the 
original  constitutions  of  all  of  the  older  states,  for  when 
they  were  adopted  the  maintenance  of  schools  was  looked 
upon  as  a  personal  or  local  rather  than  a  state  concern. 
But  later  amendments  have  since  introduced  such  provisions 
into  all  ftf  the  older  state  constitutions.  And  all  of  the 
newer  ones  have  contained  strong  and  elaborate  sections, 
making  it  a  fundamental  duty  of  the  government  they  estab- 
lished to  encourage  education  and  provide  schools  for  all. 

Of  course,  all  of  the  states  have  legislated  much  in  refer- 
ence to  the  schools,  and  there  is  scarcely  a  session  of  one  of 
the  state  legislatures  in  which  they  do  not  receive  consider- 
able attention.  In  all  of  the  states  there  is  some  sort  of  a 
state  school  organization  established  by  law.  In  practically 
all  there  is  an  officer  known  as  the  state  superintendent  of 


20         EDUCATIONAL  ORGANIZATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION       [20 

public  instruction,  or  the  state  school  commissioner.  In 
some  there  is  a  state  board  of  education.  In  New  York 
there  is  a  state  board  of  regents  in  charge  of  the  private 
academies,  in  some  measure  of  the  public  secondary  schools, 
and  of  all  of  the  higher  institutions ;  and  also  a  state  super- 
intendent of  public  instruction,  with  very  high  authority 
over  the  elementary  schools  and  in  a  large  measure  over 
the  public  high  schools. 

The  officer  last  referred  to  doubtless  is  vested  with  larger 
authority  than  any  other  one  educational  official  in  the 
country.  He  apportions  the  state  schools  funds ;  he  deter- 
mines the  conditions  of  admission,  the  courses  of  work  and 
the  employment  of  teachers,  and  audits  all  the  accounts  of 
the  twelve  normal  schools  of  the  state;  he  has  unlimited 
authority  over  the  examination  and  certification  of  teachers ; 
he  regulates  the  official  action  of  the  school  commissioners 
in  all  of  the  assembly  districts  of  the  state ;  he  appoints  the 
teachers'  institutes,  arranges  the  work,  names  the  instructors, 
and  pays  the  bills.  He  determines  the  boundaries  of  school 
districts.  He  provides  schools  for  the  defective  classes  and 
for  the  seven  Indian  reservations  yet  remaining  in  the  state. 
He  may  condemn  schoolhouses  and  require  new  ones  to  be 
built.  He  may  direct  new  furnishings  to  be  provided.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  state  board  of  regents  and  of  the  board 
of  trustees  of  Cornell  university.  He  may  entertain  appeals 
by  any  person  conceiving  himself  aggrieved  from  any  order 
or  proceeding  of  local  school  officials,  determine  the  practice 
therein,  and  make  final  disposition  of  the  matter  in  dispute, 
and  his  decision  cannot  be  "  called  in  question  in  any  court 
or  in  any  other  place." 

All  this,  with  the  splendid  organization  of  the  state  board 
of  regents,  unquestionably  provides  New  York  with  a  moi^ 
complete  and  elaborate  educational  organization  than  any 
other  American  state. 

There  are  some  who  think  that  it  is  more  elaborate  and 
authoritative  than  necessary ;  that  it  unduly  overrides  local 
freedom  and  discourages  individual  initiative.     One  who  has 


2i]       EDUCATIONAL  ORGANIZATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION  21 

been  a  part  of  that  system,  and  who  has  also  been  associated 
with  educational  work  where  there  is  but  very  slight  state 
supervision,  will  hardly  be  disposed  to  think  so.  But  it  is 
certainly  exceptional  among  the  states.  Most  of  them 
undertake  to  regulate  school  affairs  but  very  little.  In  the 
larger  number  of  cases  the  state  board  of  education  only 
controls  the  purely  state  educational  institutions,  and  the 
principal  functions  of  the  leading  educational  official  of  the 
state  are  to  inspire  action  through  his  addresses  and  gather 
statistics  and  disseminate  information  deducible  therefrom. 

However,  there  can  be  no  doubt  about  the  general  ten- 
dency being  strongly  towards  greater  centralization.  Not 
only  are  its  advantages  quite  apparent,  but  the  overwhelming 
current  of  legislation  and  of  the  decisions  of  the  courts  is 
making  it  imperative.  These  are  practically  in  accord,  and 
are  to  the  effect  that  in  each  state  the  school  system  is  not 
local,  but  general ;  not  individual  schools  controlled  by  sepa- 
rate communities,  but  a  closely  related  system  of  schools 
which  has  become  a  state  system  and  is  entirely  under  state 
authority.  Local  school  officials  are  now  uniformly  held  to 
be  agents  of  the  stat'i  for  the  administration  of  a  state  sys- 
tem of  education. 

The  granting  of  aid  by  the  state,  the  necessity  of  the 
exercise  of  powers  without  which  the  schools  cannot  live, 
and  which  powers  reside  exclusively  in  the  state,  implies  the 
right  of  the  state  to  name  the  conditions  upon  which  the  aid 
shall  be  received,  and  the  duty  to  see  that  the  exercise  of 
such  powers  shall  result  in  equal  advantages  to  all. 

Widely  dissimilar  conditions  lead  different  states  to  a 
greater  or  lesser  appreciation  of  their  educational  responsi- 
bilities and  make  them  more  or  less  able  or  disposed  to  exer- 
cise their  legal  functions  to  the  full  measure  of  their  good. 
Yet  all  are  appreciating  the  fact  that  a  constitutional,  self- 
governing  state  exists  for  the  moral  and  intellectual  advan- 
tage of  every  citizen  and  for  the  common  progress  of  the 
whole  mass.  All  are  moving  as  best  they  are  able,  and 
according  to  the  light  they  have,  in  fulfillment  of  wise  public 


22         EDUCATIONAL  ORGANIZATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION        [22 

policy  and  constitutional  obligation.  They  have  employed 
and  will  continue  to  employ  different  methods.  Some  will 
act  directly  through  state  officials :  some  will  delegate  a 
large  measure  of  authority  to  local  boards  and  officials  so 
long  as  it  seems  well :  but  all  have  the  highest  authority,  the 
supreme  responsibility  in  the  matter,  and  under  the  influence 
of  the  later  knowledge  will  undo  whatever  may  be  necessary, 
and  take  whatever  new  steps  may  be  necessary,  to  carry  the 
best  educational  opportunities  to  every  child. 

And  it  is  the  purpose  of  the  people  and  the  law  of  most 
of  the  states  that  such  educational  opportunities  shall  not 
only  be  provided  for  every  American  child,  but  that  every 
one  shall  be  required  to  take  advantage  of  them.  Compul- 
sory attendance  laws  have  been  enacted  in  most  of  the  states. 
These  are  not  as  carefully  framed  as  a  good  knowledge  of 
educational  administration  might  very  easily  lead  them  to 
be,  and  they  are  not  as  completely  enforced  as  the  true  inter- 
ests of  many  unfortunate  children  require,  yet  it  may  be  said 
safely  that  the  right  and  the  duty  of  the  state  to  educate 
them  is  recognized,  and  that  the  tendency  towards  greater 
thoroughness  in  the  way  of  making  education  universal  as  a 
safeguard  to  our  free  citizenship  is  general. 

It  was  not  so  in  the  beginning,  but  American  public 
schools  are  rapidly  coming  to  be  related  together  in  a  sys- 
tem of  schools,  that  system  a  state  system,  and  at  once  the 
most  flexible  and  adaptable  to  our  manner  of  living,  our 
social  ideals  and  our  national  ambitions. 

THE  GENERAL  GOVERNMENT  AND  EDUCATION 

As  already  pointed  out,  the  authoritative  management  of 
the  schools  has  never  been  conferred  upon  the  general  gov- 
ernment, but  is  reserved  to  and  exercised  by  the  several 
states.  What  might  have  been  done  at  the  time  of  the 
framing  of  the  federal  constitution,  if  it  had  been  supposed 
that  in  a  few  years  the  support  and  management  of  schools 
would  develop  into  a  government  function,  can  only  be 
speculated  upon.     It  is  well  known  that  the  members  of  the 


23]       EDUCATIONAL  ORGANIZATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION         23 

first  constitutional  convention  were  not  indifferent  to  edu- 
cation. But  their  view  of  the  subject  was  the  view  of  all 
men  of  their  time,  i.  e.,  that  it  was  highly  desirable  that  all 
social  organizations  should  encourage,  perhaps  even  by  that 
time  that  it  was  proper  for  government  to  see  that  schools 
were  maintained,  but  that  the  real  responsibility,  and  of 
course  the  expense,  should  fall  upon  people  legally  charge- 
able with  the  custody  of  children.  The  functions  of  gov- 
ernment touching  education  were  not  then  under  considera- 
tion at  all,  and  when  they  forced  themselves  upon  public 
attention  the  towns,  and,  when  the  exercise  of  the  power  of 
taxation  became  imperative,  the  states  assumed  them  as 
they  were  bound  to  do. 

Accordingly,  the  federal  government  has  never  exercised 
any  control  over  the  public  educational  work  of  the  country. 
But  it  may  be  said  with  emphasis  that  that  government  has 
never  been  indifferent  thereto.  It  has  shown  its  interest  at 
different  times  by  generous  gifts  to  education,  and  by  the 
organization  of  a  bureau  of  education  for  the  purpose  of 
gathering  the  fullest  information  from  all  of  the  states,  and 
from  foreign  nations  as  well,  and  for  disseminating  the  same 
to  all  who  would  be  interested  therein. 

The  gifts  of  the  United  States  to  the  several  states  to 
encourage  schools  have  been  in  the  form  of  land  rights  from 
the  public  domain.  In  the  sale  of  public  lands  the  practice 
of  reserving  one  lot  in  every  township  "  for  the  maintenance 
of  public  schools  within  the  township  "  has  uniforjnly  been 
followed.  In  1786  officers  of  the  revolutionary  army  peti- 
tioned congress  for  the  right  to  settle  territory  north  and 
west  of  the  Ohio  river.  A  committee  reported  a  bill  in 
favor  of  granting  the  request,  which  provided  that  one  sec- 
tion in  each  township  should  be  reserved  for  common  schools, 
one  section  for  the  support  of  religion,  and  four  townships 
for  the  support  of  a  university.  This  was  modified  so  as  to 
give  one  section  for  the  support  of  religion,  one  for  common 
schools,  and  two  townships  for  the  support  of  a  "  literary 
institution  to  be  applied  to  the  intended  object  by  the  leg- 


24         EDUCATIONAL  ORGANIZATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION       [24 

islature  of  the  state."  This  provision,  coupled  with  the 
splendid  declaration  that  "  religion,  morality  and  knowledge 
being  necessary  to  good  government  and  the  happiness  of 
mankind,  schools  and  the  means  of  education  shall  forever 
be  encouraged,"  foreshadowed  the  general  disposition  and 
policy  of  the  central  government  and  made  the  "  Ordi- 
nance of  1787  for  the  government  of  the  Northwest  terri- 
tory" famous.  The  precedent  here  established  became 
national  policy,  and  after  the  year  1800  each  state  admitted 
to  the  Union,  with  the  exception  of  Maine,  Texas  and  West 
Virginia,  received  two  or  more  townships  of  land  for  the 
founding  of  a  university.  In  1836  congress  passed  an  act 
distributing  to  the  several  states  the  surplus  funds  in  the 
treasury.  In  all  $28,101,645  was  so  distributed,  and  in  a 
number  of  the  states  this  was  devoted  to  educational  uses. 

But  the  most  noble,  timely,  and  carefully  guarded  gift  of 
the  federal  government  was  embodied  in  the  land  grant 
act  of  1862  for  colleges  of  agriculture  and  the  mechanic 
arts.  This  act  gave  to  each  state  thirty  thousand  acres  of 
land  for  each  senator  and  representative  in  congress  to 
which  the  state  was  entitled  under  the  census  of  i860,  for 
the  purpose  of  founding  "at  least  one  college  where  the 
leading  object  shall  be,  without  excluding  other  scientific 
and  classical  studies,  and  including  military  tactics,  to  teach 
such  branches  of  learning  as  are  related  to  agriculture  and 
the  mechanic  arts,  in  such  manner  as  the  legislatures  of  the 
states  shall  respectively  prescribe,  in  order  to  promote  the 
liberal  education  of  the  industrial  classes  in  the  several  pur- 
suits and  professions  of  life."  This  act  has  been  added  to 
by  other  congressional  enactments  and  the  proceeds  of  the 
sales  of  lands  have  been  generously  supplemented  by  the 
state  legislatures  until  great  peoples'  colleges  and  universi- 
ties have  arisen  in  all  of  the  States. 

The  work  of  the  United  States  bureau  of  education  is  a 
most  exact,  stimulating  and  beneficent  one.  Without  exer- 
cising any  authority,  it  is  untiring  and  scientific  in  gathering 
data,  in  the  philosophic  treatment  of  educational  subjects, 


25]       EDUCATIONAL  ORGANIZATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION         25 

and  in  furnishing  the  fullest  information  upon  every  con- 
ceivable phase  of  educational  activity  to  whomsoever  would 
accept  it.  Its  operations  have  by  no  means  been  confined 
to  the  United  States.  It  has  become  the  great  educational 
clearing  house  of  the  world.  The  commissioners  who  have 
been  at  the  head  of  this  bureau  have  been  eminent  men  and 
great  educational  leaders.  The  present  commissioner,  Dr. 
William  T.  Harris,  stands  without  a  peer  as  the  most  philo- 
sophical thinker  and  the  readiest  writer  upon  educational 
subjects  in  the  world.  Under  such  fortunate  direction  the 
bureau  of  education  has  collected  the  facts  and  made  most 
painstaking  research  into  every  movement  in  America  and 
elsewhere  which  gave  promise  of  advantage  to  the  good  cause 
of  popular  education. 

So,  while  the  government  of  the  United  States  is  not 
chargeable  under  the  constitution  with  providing  or  super- 
vising schools,  and  while  it  does  not  exercise  authority  in  the 
matter,  it  will  be  quickly  seen  that  it  has  been  steadily  and 
intelligently  and  generously  true  to  the  national  instinct  to 
advance  morality  and  promote  culture  by  its  influence  and 
its  resources. 

PRIVATE    INSTITUTIONS 

Up  to  this  time  we  have  been  treating  of  the  American 
public  school  system,  using  the  term  in  its  strictest  sense. 
We  have  been  referring  to  the  schools  supported  by  public 
moneys  and  supervised  by  public  officers.  Yet  there  is  an 
infinite  number  of  other  schools  which  comprise  an  import- 
ant part  of  the  educational  system  of  the  country  and  are 
of  course  subject  to  its  laws.  Any  statement  concerning 
American  school  organization  and  administration,  even  of 
the  most  general  character,  would  be  incomplete  which  did 
not  cover  these,  but  obviously  it  is  not  desirable  in  this  con- 
nection to  do  more  than  touch  upon  the  relation  in  which 
they  stand,  by  common  usage  and  under  the  laws,  to  Ameri- 
can education. 

In  the  first  half  of  the  century  just  closing  many  private 
"academies"  or  "seminaries"  sprang  up  in  all  directions 


26  EDUCATIONAL  ORGANIZATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION       [26 

where  the  country  had  become  at  all  settled.  This  was  in 
response  to  a  demand  from"  people  who  began  to  reach  out, 
but  could  not  get  what  they  wanted  in  the  common  schools. 
Any  teacher  with  a  little  more  than  ordinary  gifts  could  open 
one  of  these  schools  upon  a  little  higher  plane  than  usual 
and  very  soon  have  an  abundance  of  pupils  and  a  profitable 
income.  Many  of  these  institutions  did  most  excellent  work. 
Not  a  few  of  the  leading  citizens  of  the  country  owe  their 
first  inspiration  and  much  help  to  them.  The  larger  part  of 
these  schools  served  their  purpose  and  finally  gave  way  to 
new  public  high  schools.  Some  yet  remain  and  continue  to 
meet  the  desires  of  well-to-do  and  select  families  who  prefer 
their  somewhat  exclusive  ways.  A  considerable  number  have 
been  adopted  by  their  states  and  developed  into  state  nor- 
mal schools,  and  not  a  few  have  by  their  own  natural  force 
grown  into  literary  colleges. 

The  earlier  American  colleges  were,  in  the  beginning,  in 
a  large  sense  the  children  of  the  state.  Yale,  Harvard, 
Princeton,  Columbia  were  all  chartered  by  and  in  some  meas- 
ure supported  by  their  states  at  the  start,  and  are  yet  sub- 
ject to  the  law,  though  they  have  become  independent  of 
such  support.  A  vast  number  of  colleges  has  been  estab- 
lished by  the  religious  denominations  for  the  training  of  their 
ministry,  and,  so  far  as  possible,  for  giving  all  their  youth  a 
higher  education  while  keeping  them  under  their  denomina- 
tional influence. 

In  recent  years  innumerable  schools  have  arisen  out  of 
private  enterprise.  Every  conceivable  interest  has  produced 
a  school  to  promote  its  own  ends  and  accordingly  adjusted 
to  its  own  thought.  So  professional,  technical,  industrial  and 
commercial  schools  of  every  kind  have  sprung  up  on  every 
hand. 

All  such  schools  operate  by  the  tacit  leave  of  the  states 
in  which  they  exist.  The  states  are  not  disposed  to  inter- 
fere with  them,  as  they  ask  no  public  support.  Some  of 
them  hold  charters  granted  by  the  legislature,  and  more 
secure  recognized  standing  by  organizing  under  general  cor- 


2y']        EDUCATIONAL  ORGANIZATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION  2/ 

poration  laws  enacted  to  cover  all  such  enterprises.  In  some 
cases  the  states  distribute  public  moneys  to  some  of  these 
institutions  by  way  of  encouragement,  and  perhaps  impose 
certain  conditions  upon  which  they  shall  be  eligible  to  share 
in  such  distributions.  But  ordinarily  a  state  does  no  more 
than  protect  its  own  good  name  against  occasional  impostors 
who  wear  the  livery  of  heaven  to  serve  the  devil  more  effectu- 
ally, and  it  is  feared  that  some  states  have  not  yet  come  to 
do  this  as  completely  as  they  ought. 

The  tendency  to  regulate  private  schools  by  legislation,  to 
the  extent  at  least  of  seeing  that  they  are  not  discreditable 
to  the  state,  is  unmistakable.  New  York,  for  example,  has 
prohibited  the  use  of  the  name  "  college  "  or  "  university  " 
except  when  the  requirements  of  the  state  board  of  regents 
are  met.  All  of  the  reputable  institutions, —  and  they  con- 
stitute nearly  the  whole  number, —  desire  reasonable  super- 
vision, for  it  certifies  their  respectability  and  constitutes  them 
a  part  of  the  public  educational  system  of  the  state. 

EXPERT    SUPERVISION 

It  has  not  been  convenient  in  tracing  the  preceding  pages 
to  treat  of  an  exceedingly  important  phase  of  the  American 
school  system  which  distinguishes  that  system  from  any  other 
national  system  of  education,  and  which  has  come  to  be  well 
established  in  our  laws ;  that  is,  supervision  by  professional 
experts,  both  generally  and  locally. 

From  the  beginning  the  laws  have  provided  methods  for 
certificating  persons  deemed  to  be  qualified  to  teach  in  the 
schools.  This  has  ordinarily  been  among  the  functions  of 
state,  city,  and  county  superintendents  or  commissioners. 
Sometimes  boards  of  examiners  have  been  created  whose 
only  duty  should  be  to  examine  and  certificate  teachers.  The 
functions  of  certificating  and  of  employing  teachers  have, 
for  obvious  reasons,  not  commonly  been  lodged  in  the  same 
officials.  Superintendents  began  to  be  provided  for  by  law 
in  the  early  part  of  the  century.     The  first  state  superin- 


28         EDUCATIONAL  ORGANIZATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION       [28 

tendency  was  established  by  New  York  in  1812.  Other 
states  took  similar  action  in  the  next  thirty  years.  Town, 
city  and  county  superintendencies  came  along  rapidly,  and 
by  or  soon  after  the  middle  of  the  century  had  been  set  in 
operation  in  most  parts  of  the  then  settled  country. 

The  main  duty  of  these  officials  in  the  earlier  days  was  to 
examine  candidates  for  teaching,  report  statistics,  and  make 
addresses  on  educational  occasions.  In  later  years,  however, 
they  are  held  in  considerable  measure  responsible  for  the 
quality  of  the  teaching.  In  the  country  districts  the  super- 
intendents hold  institutes,  visit  the  schools,  commend  and 
criticise  the  teaching,  and  exert  every  effort  to  promote  the 
efficiency  of  the  schools,  until  a  discreet  and  active  county 
superintendent  comes  to  exert  almost  a  controlling  influence 
over  the  school  affairs  of  his  county. 

In  the  cities,  and  particularly  the  larger  ones,  the  problem 
is  much  more  difficult.  The  teachers  are  much  greater  in 
number  and  the  task  of  securing  persons  of  uniform  excel- 
lence is  much  enlarged.  The  schools  are  less  homogeneous 
and  instruction  less  easy.  Frequently  the  superintendent 
cannot  know  the  personal  qualities  of  each  teacher,  or  even 
visit  all  of  the  schools.  Yet  a  system  must  be  organized  by 
which,  through  the  aid  of  assistants,  the  superintendent's 
office  will  be  advised  fully  of  the  work  of  every  teacher  in 
the  system.  And  if  the  system  is  to  have  anything  like  uni- 
form excellence,  if  the  rights  of  children  are  to  be  met,  and 
the  instruction  is  to  have  life  in  it,  all  teachers  must  be  upon 
the  merit  basis,  the  most  deserving  must  be  advanced  in  rank 
and  pay  as  rapidly  as  practicable,  and  the  weak  must  be 
helped  and  trained  into  efficiency  or  removed  from  their 
positions. 

The  laws  are  coming  to  recognize  the  responsibilities  and 
difficulties  of  the  superintendent's  position,  and  are  continu- 
ally throwing  about  that  officer  additional  safeguards  and 
giving  him  larger  powers  and  greater  freedom  of  action. 
The  great  issue  that  is  now  on  in  American  school  affairs  is 


29]       EDUCATIONAL  ORGANIZATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION  29 

between  education  and  politics.  The  school  men  are  insist- 
ing upon  absolute  immunity  from  political  influence  in  their 
work.  It  would  doubtless  seem  strange  to  people  of  other 
nations  not  familiar  with  our  political  conditions,  that  such 
insistence  may  be  necessary.  Pure  democracy  has  its 
troubles.  The  machinations  of  men  who  are  seeking  politi- 
cal influence  constitute  the  most  serious  of  them.  However, 
the  good  cause  of  education  against  political  manipulation 
is  making  substantial  progress.  The  law  books  of  all  of  the 
states  show  provisions  recognizing  the  professional  school 
superintendent :  in  many  of  the  states  they  contain  provis- 
ions directing  and  protecting  his  work  :  and  in  some  of  them 
they  are  beginning  to  confer  upon  him  entire  authority  over 
the  appointment,  assignment  and  removal  of  teachers,  while 
they  impose  upon  him  entire  responsibility  for  the  quality  of 
the  teaching. 

It  is  this  professional  supervision,  by  states  and  counties 
as  well  as  by  towns  and  cities,  taken  up  almost  spontane- 
ously at  the  beginning  and  early  established  and  compen- 
sated by  law,  which  has  given  the  American  schools  their 
peculiar  spirit.  As  intelligence  has  advanced  and  the  people 
have  come  to  know  the  worth  of  good  teaching  and  have 
been  unwilling  that  their  children  should  be  associated  with 
teachers  who  have  not  the  kindly  spirit  of  a  true  teacher,  or 
be  kept  marking  time  by  incompetents,  they  have  favored 
larger  exactions  and  closer  supervision  over  the  teaching,  to 
the  end  that  it  might  be  in  accord  with  the  best  educational 
opinion.  All  this  is  yearly  becoming  more  and  more  appar- 
ent in  the  laws,  and  it  is  advancing  the  great  body  of 
American  teachers  along  philosophical  lines  more  steadily 
and  rapidly  than  any  other  great  body  of  teachers  in  the 
world  is  advancing.  American  teachers  have  always  had 
freedom.  Now  they  are  learning  to  exercise  it,  and  they  are 
being  permitted  to  exercise  it,  in  accord  with  educational 
principles. 


30         EDUCATIONAL  ORGANIZATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION        [30 


CONCLUSION 

In  conclusion  a  few  facts  touching  the  great  school  sys- 
tem, the  legal  organization  of  which  we  have  briefly  tried  to 
sketch,  and  which  has  produced  that  organization  and  in 
turn  has  in  part  been  produced  by  it,  will  be  of  interest. 
The  enrollment  of  pupils  in  the  state  common  schools  alone 
was,  in  1895-6,  14,379,078.  These  schools  were  kept  open 
an  average  of  140.5  days  in  the  year.  The  number  of  teach- 
ers employed  was  130,366  males  and  269,959  females,  a  total 
of  400,325.  The  total  value  of  the  public  school  prop- 
erty was  $455,948,164,  and  the  running  expenses  for  the 
year  were  $184,453,780.  There  was  raised  by  taxation 
$163,023,294.  Of  institutions  above  the  grade  of  elemen- 
tary schools  there  were  677  colleges  and  universities,  with 
97,134  collegiate  students  and  69,014  preparatory  students. 
Some  of  these  are  too  ambitious  in  calling  themselves 
"colleges,"  it  is  true,  yet  all  are  doing  work  that  counts,  and 
educational  nomenclature  is  straightening  itself  out  slowly 
but  steadily.  There  were  5,108  public  high  schools  with 
409,433  secondary  pupils,  and  there  were  2,100  private  high 
schools  and  academies  with  107,633  secondary  pupils. 
There  wei;e  ']']  law  schools  with  10,449  students,  148  medi- 
cal schools  with  24,265  pupils,  157  theological  schools  with 
8,173  students,  and  362  normal  schools  with  67,380  students. 
In  cities  of  over  8,000  inhabitants  there  were  601  schools 
with  3,590,875  pupils.  In  the  whole  country  there  were 
7,184  public  libraries  with  34,596,258  volumes. 

In  the  year  1896  there  was  paid  for  teachers'  and  superin- 
tendents' wages  in  the  common  schools  $1 16,377,778,  or  63.1 
per  cent  of  the  total  expenditure  for  school  purposes. 

Laws  making  attendance  at  school  compulsory  have  been 
enacted  in  32  states  and  territories. 

One  of  the  most  gratifying  facts  in  connection  with  the 
educational  work  of  the  United  States  is  the  large  increase 
in  the  number  of  graduate  students  in  the  colleges.  The 
following  table  exhibits  the  number  of  resident  graduate 


31] 


EDUCATIONAL  ORGANIZATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION 


31 


Students  in  universities  and  colleges  of  the  United  States 
for  25  years  and  down  to  as  late  a  time  as  the  figures  are 
available : 


i87i-'72 198 

i872-'73 219 

1873-74 283 

1874-75 369 

1875-76 399 

i876-'77 389 

1877-78  414 

1878-79 465 

i879-'8o 411 


i88o-'8i   460 

1882-83 522 

i883-'84 778 

1884-85 869 

1885-86 935 

i886-'87 1,237 

1887-88 1,290 

1888-89 i>343 


i889-'90 1,717 

i890-'9i. .....  2,131 

1891-92. . 2,499 

1892-93 2,851 

1893-94 3,493 

1894-95 3,999 

1895-96 4,363 

i896-'97 4,919 


The  United  States  bureau  of  education,  to  which  I  am 
indebted  for  the  foregoing  figures  and  much  other  informa- 
tion, is  aided  by  a  corps  of  1 5,000  voluntary  correspondents 
who  furnish  printed  reports  and  catalogs  and  cheerfully 
answer  the  bureau's  inquiries  upon  every  phase  of  educa- 
tional work. 

It  is  of  course  difficult  for  one  not  familiar  with  American 
institutions  and  American  ways  to  understand  or  appreciate 
the  American  school  system.  To  him  it  seems  anything  but 
a  system.  It  is  a  product  of  conditions  in  a  new  land,  and 
it  is  adapted  to  those  conditions.  It  is  at  once  expressive  of 
the  American  spirit  and  it  is  energizing,  culturing  and  ennob- 
ling that  spirit.  It  is  settling  down  to  an  orderly  and  sym- 
metrical institution,  it  is  becoming  scientific,  and  it  is  doing 
its  work  efficiently.  It  exerts  a  telling  influence  upon  every 
person  in  the  land,  and  is  proving  that  it  is  supplying  an 
education  broad  enough  and  of  a  kind  to  support  free 
institutions. 


Department   of   Education 

FOR  THE 

United    States   Commission    to    the   Paris   Exposition   of   1900 


MONOGRAPHS    ON     EDUCATION 


IN  THE 


UNITKD     STATKS 

edited  by 

NICHOLAS  MURRAY  BUTLER 
Professor  of  Philosophy  and  Education  in  Columbia  University,  New  York 


KINDERGARTEN    EDUCATION 


BY 


.SUSAN  E.  BLOW 
Cazenovia,  New  York 


This  Monograph  is  contributed  to  the  United  States  Educational  Exhibit  bt  the 

State  of  New  York 


KINDERGARTEN   EDUCATION 


The  history  of  the  kindergarten  in  America  is  the  record 
of  four  sharply  defined  movements  ;  the  pioneer  movement, 
whose  point  of  departure  was  the  city  of  Boston  ;  the  philan- 
thropic movement,  whose  initial  effort  was  made  in  the  vil- 
lage of  Florence,  Mass.,  and  whose  greatest  triumphs  have 
been  achieved  in  San  Francisco ;  the  national  movement, 
which  emanated  from  St.  Louis ;  and  the  great  maternal 
movement  which,  radiating  from  Chicago,  is  now  spreading 
throughout  the  United  States.  The  first  of  these  move- 
ments called  public  attention  to  the  several  most  important 
aspects  of  the  Froebelian  ideal ;  the  second  demonstrated  the 
efificiency  of  the  new  education  as  a  redemptive  force ;  the 
third  is  making  the  kindergarten  an  integral  part  of  the 
national  school  system ;  the  fourth  is  evolving  a  more 
enlightened  and  consecrated  motherhood  and  thereby 
strengthening  the  foundations  and  elevating  the  ideals  of 
American  family  life. 

In  1840  the  first  kindergarten  was  established  by  Friedrich 
Froebel  at  Blankenburg,  Germany.  Nineteen  years  later 
Miss  Elizabeth  Peabody  of  Boston  became  interested  in 
Froebel's  writings.  In  1867  she  went  to  Germany  to  study 
the  kindergarten  system.  Returning  to  America  in  1868 
she  devoted  the  remainder  of  her  life  to  the  propagation  of 
Froebel's  educational  principles.  Through  her  apostolic 
labors  parents  were  inspired  to  seek  the  help  of  the  kinder- 
garten in  the  education  of  their  children  ;  philanthropists 
were  incited  to  establish  charity  kindergartens ;  the  Boston 
school  board  was  persuaded  to  open  an  experimental  kinder- 
garten in  one  of  its  public  schools  and  a  periodical  devoted 
to  the  elucidation  and  dissemination  of  Froebelian  ideals  was 
founded  and  sustained  for  four  years.  The  pioneer  move- 
ment, therefore,  broke  paths  in  the  four  directions  of  private, 


4  KINDERGARTEN    EDUCATION  [36 

public,  philanthropic  and  literary  work.  Above  all  through 
the  contagious  power  of  devout  enthusiasm  it  created  the 
consecrated  endeavor  without  which  the  kindergarten  as 
Froebel  conceived  it  can  have  no  actual  embodiment. 

In  1872  an  independent  pioneer  movement  was  begun  in 
New  York  by  Miss  Henrietta  Haines  who  invited  Miss 
Boelte  to  conduct  a  kindergarten  in  her  school  for  young 
ladies.  Miss  Boelte  had  studied  three  years  with  Froebel's 
widow,  had  won  a  high  reputation  in  Germany,  and  later  had 
done  efficient  work  in  England.  About  a  year  after  her 
arrival  in  America  she  married  Prof.  John  Kraus  and  estab- 
lished an  independent  kindergarten  and  normal  class.  Her 
normal  work  still  continues  and  she  is  to-day  the  leading  rep- 
resentative in  America  of  the  Froebel  tradition.  The  power 
of  her  work  results  from  her  resolute  adherence  to  all  the 
details  of  the  original  Froebelian  method.  By  this  unswerv- 
ing conformity  she  has  kept  alive,  through  their  practical 
application,  ideas  which  are  of  the  highest  importance  to 
the  theoretic  development  of  the  kindergarten  system. 

In  1874  Mr.  S.  H.  Hill,  of  Florence,  Mass.,  contributed 
funds  to  open  the  first  charity  kindergarten  in  the  United 
States  and  later  put  in  trust  a  sum  sufficient  to  sustain  and 
extend  the  work.  Four  years  later  a  philanthropic  move- 
ment was  initiated  in  Boston  by  Mrs.  Quincy  A.  Shaw,  who 
for  the  ensuing  fourteen  years  supported  free  kindergartens 
for  poor  children,  these  beneficent  institutions  reaching  at 
one  time  to  thirty  in  number.  The  influence  of  her  noble 
example  has  doubtless  conspired  with  other  causes  to  create 
the  one  hundred  and  fifteen  local  associations  which  are  now 
rendering  efficient  service  to  the  Froebelian  cause  in  differ- 
ent sections  of  the  United  States.  Of  such  philanthropic 
associations  the  wealthiest  and  best  organized  is  the  Golden 
Gate  association  of  San  Francisco.  At  the  time  of  its 
greatest  prosperity  this  organization  supported  forty-one 
kindergartens ;  had  given  training  to  more  than  thirty  thou- 
sand children  ;  had  received  in  endowments  and  other  forms 
of  contribution  five  hundred  thousand  dollars ;  and  had  pub- 


37]  KINDERGARTEN    EDUCATION  5 

lished  and  distributed  over  eighty  thousand  annual  reports. 
Unfortunately  the  financial  depression  of  1893  reduced  its 
subscription  list  and  at  present  it  supports  only  twenty-three 
kindergartens.  A  training  school  for  kindergartners  is  con- 
ducted under  its  auspices.  Other  associations  deserving 
of  special  mention  are  the  New  York  kindergarten  associa- 
tion, which  supports  seventeen  kindergartens,  and  whose 
aim  is  to  provide  for  the  children  against  whom  the  over- 
crowded public  schools  still  close  their  doors ;  the  Brooklyn 
association,  which  provides  for  sixteen  kindergartens,  and 
under  whose  auspices  there  were  conducted  during  the  past 
year  one  hundred  and  eighty-three  mothers'  meetings  ;  the 
Pittsburgh  and  Allegheny  free  kindergarten  association, 
which  in  six  years  has  established  twenty-eight  kindergar- 
tens, with  an  enrollment  of  fourteen  hundred  children ;  the 
Cincinnati  association,  which  supports  twenty-four  kinder- 
gartens ;  the  Free  kindergarten  association  of  Chicago, 
which  supports  eighteen  kindergartens  and  has  a  flourishing 
normal  school ;  the  Chicago  Froebel  association,  whose  presi- 
dent organized  the  first  charity  kindergarten  in  that  city,  and 
to  the  veteran  leader  of  whose  normal  department  is  due  in 
large  measure  the  introduction  of  the  kindergarten  into  the 
Chicago  public  schools  ;  the  Louisville  association,  which 
supports  nine  kindergartens,  and  has  parents,  nurses,  Sun- 
day school,  boarding  and  normal  departments. 

Valuable  as  is  the  work  accomplished  by  private  kinder- 
gartens and  kindergarten  associations,  it  is  necessarily  a 
restricted  work ;  and  had  the  Froebel  ian  movement  devel- 
oped only  upon  these  lines  the  kindergarten  must  have 
remained  forever  the  privilege  of  the  wealthy  few,  and  the 
occasional  gift  of  charity  to  the  abject  poor.  The  public 
kindergarten  opened  in  Boston,  though  carried  on  for  sev- 
eral years,  was  finally  given  up  upon  the  plea  that  the  city 
could  not  afford  to  appropriate  funds  to  extend  the  system, 
and  a  second  public  kindergarten,  which  was  opened  in  Brigh- 
ton, Mass.,  in  January,  1873,  was  abolished  when  Brighton 
was  annexed  to  Boston  in  1874.     Meantime,  however,  Hon. 


6  KINDERGARTEN    EDUCATION  [38 

William  T.  Harris,  the  present  United  States  commis- 
sioner of  education,  who  was  then  superintendent  of  schools 
in  St.  Louis,  had  called  attention  to  the  kindergarten  and 
suggested  that  experiments  be  made  with  a  view  to  intro- 
ducing into  the  public  school  such  features  of  the  system  as 
might  prove  helpful  in  the  education  of  children  between 
the  ages  of  four  and  six.  The  outcome  of  this  suggestion 
was  the  opening  of  an  experimental  kindergarten  in  the  fall 
of  1873.  The  work  was  approved  by  the  school  board; 
new  kindergartens  were  opened  as  rapidly  as  competent 
directors  could  be  prepared  to  take  charge  of  them,  and  when 
Dr.  Harris  resigned  his  position  as  superintendent  in  1880 
the  St.  Louis  kindergartens  had  an  enrollment  of  7,828  chil- 
dren and  the  system  was  so  firmly  established  that  it  has 
since  that  time  proved  itself  impregnable  to  all  attack. 

The  experiment  in  St.  Louis  was  a  crucial  one  and  had  it 
failed  it  would  have  been  difficult  to  prevail  upon  other  cities 
to  introduce  the  kindergarten  into  their  public  schools. 
There  were  many  ready  arguments  against  such  an  innova- 
tion :  the  argument  from  expense ;  the  argument  based  on 
the  tender  age  of  kindergarten  children  ;  the  argument  that 
kindergartens  would  spoil  the  children  and  fill  the  primary 
grade  with  intractable  pupils  ;  the  argument  that  only  rarely 
endowed  and,  therefore,  rarely  to  be  found  persons  could  suc- 
cessfully conduct  a  kindergarten.  These  arguments  would 
have  acquired  irresistible  force  when  confirmed  by  an  abor- 
tive experiment.  Dr.  Harris  steered  the  kindergarten  cause 
through  stormy  waters  to  a  safe  harbor.  He  proved  that  the 
kindergarten  could  be  made  an  integral  part  of  the  public 
school  system.  He  reduced  the  annual  expense  to  less  than 
five  dollars  for  each  child.  He  called  attention  to  the  fact 
that  the  years  between  four  and  six  were  critical  ones  and 
that  the  needs  of  the  child  at  this  period  were  not  provided 
for  either  by  the  family  or  the  school.  He. convinced  him- 
self that  children  who  had  attended  kindergartens  conducted 
by  competent  directors  did  better  on  entering  school  than 
those  who  had  received  no  such  training,  and  the  weight  of 


39]  KINDERGARTEN    EDUCATION  7 

his  authoritative  statement  gave  other  educators  faith  in  the 
possibilities  of  the  system.  Finally,  he  proved  that  with 
wise  training  young  women  of  average  ability  made  satisfac- 
tory kindergartners.  It  was  impossible  to  go  on  repeating 
that  a  thing  could  not  be  done  in  face  of  the  fact  that  it  had 
been  done,  and  with  the  success  of  the  experiment  in  St. 
Louis  recognition  of  the  kindergarten  as  the  first  stage  of  all 
public  education  became  simply  a  matter  of  time. 

The  reasons  which  convinced  Dr.  Harris  of  the  value  of 
the  kindergarten  are  stated  in  the  following  extract  from  his 
monograph  entitled  Early  History  of  the  Kindergarten  in 
St.  Louis,  Mo. : 

"If  the  school  is  to  prepare  especially  for  the  arts  and 
trades  it  is  the  kindergarten  which  is  to  accomplish  the 
object,  for  the  training  of  the  muscles,  if  it  is  to  be  a  train- 
ing for  special  skill  in  manipulation,  must  be  begun  in  early 
youth.  As  age  advances  it  becomes  more  difficult  to  acquire 
new  phases  of  manual  dexterity.  Two  weeks'  practice  of 
holding  objects  in  his  right  hand  will  make  the  infant  in  his 
first  year  right  handed  for  life.  The  muscles  yet  in  a  pulpy 
consistency  are  very  easily  set  in  any  fixed  direction.  The 
child  trained  for  one  year  in  Froebel's  gifts  and  occupations 
will  acquire  a  skillful  use  of  his  hand  and  the  habit  of  accu- 
rate measurement  of  the  eye,  which  will  be  his  possession 
for  life. 

"In  the  common  school,  drawing,  which  has  obtained  only 
a  recent  and  precarious  foothold  in  our  course  of  study,  is 
the  only  branch  which  is  intended  to  cultivate  skill  in  the 
hand  and  accuracy  in  the  eye.  The  kindergarten,  on  the 
other  hand,  develops  this  by  all  its  groups  of  gifts. 

"  Not  only  is  this  training  of  great  importance  by  reason 
of  the  fact  that  most  children  must  depend  largely  upon 
manual  skill  for  their  future  livelihood,  but  from  a  broader 
point  of  view,  we  must  value  skill  as  the  great  potence 
which  is  emancipating  the  human  race  from  drudgery  by 
the  aid  of  machinery.  Inventions  will  free  man  from  thral- 
dom to  time  and  space. 

"  By  reason  of  the  fact  already  adverted  to,  that  a  short 
training  of  certain  muscles  of  the  infant  will  be  followed  by 


8  KINDERGARTEN    EDUCATION  [40 

the  continued  growth  of  the  same  muscles  through  his  after 
life,  it  is  clear  how  it  is  that  the  two  years  of  the  child's  life 
(his  fifth  and  sixth),  or  even  one  year,  or  a  half  year  in  the 
kindergarten  will  start  into  development  activities  of  muscle 
and  brain  which  will  secure  deftness  and  delicacy  of  indus- 
trial power  in  all  after  life.  The  rationale  of  this  is  found 
in  the  fact  that  it  is  a  pleasure  to  use  muscles  already  inured 
to  use  ;  in  fact  a  much-used  muscle  demands  a  daily  exercise 
as  much  as  the  stomach  demands  food.  But  an  unused 
muscle  or  the  mere  rudiment  of  a  muscle  that  has  never 
been  used,  gives  pain  on  its  first  exercise.  Its  contraction 
is  accompanied  with  laceration  of  tissue,  and  followed  by 
lameness,  or  by  distress  on  using  it  again.  Hence  it  hap- 
pens that  the  body  shrinks  from  employing  an  unused  muscle, 
but,  on  the  contrary,  demands  the  frequent  exercise  of 
muscles  already  trained  to  use.  Hence  in  a  thousand  ways 
unconscious  to  ourselves,  we  manage  to  exercise  daily  what- 
ever muscles  we  have  already  trained,  and  thus  keep  in  prac- 
tice physical  aptitudes  for  skill  in  any  direction. 

"  The  kindergarten  should  be  a  sort  of  sub-primary  edu- 
cation, and  receive  the  pupil  at  the  age  of  four  or  four  and 
a  half  years  and  hold  him  until  he  completes  his  sixth  year. 
By  this  means  we  gain  the  child  for  one  or  two  years  when 
he  is  good  for  nothing  else  but  education,  and  not  of  much 
value  even  for  the  education  of  the  school  as  it  is  and  has 
been.  The  disciplines  of  reading  and  writing,  geography 
and  arithmetic,  as  taught  in  the  ordinary  primary  school,  are 
beyond  the  powers  of  the  average  child  not  yet  entered  upon 
his  seventh  year.  And  beyond  the  seventh  year  the  time  of 
the  child  is  too  valuable  to  use  it  for  other  than  general 
disciplines, —  reading,  writing,  arithmetic,  etc.,  and  drawing. 
He  must  not  take  up  his  school  time  with  learning  a 
handicraft. 

w     "  The  kindergarten  utilizes  a  period  of  the  child's  life  for 
/preparation    for  the  arts  and  trades  without  robbing  the 
school  of  a  portion  of  its  needed  time. 

"  Besides  the  industrial  phase  of  the  subject  which  is  per- 
tinent here,  we  may  take  note  of  another  one  that  bears 
indirectly  on  the  side  of  productive  activity,  but  has  a  much 
wider  bearing.  At  the  age  of  three  years  the  child  begins 
to  emerge  from  the  circumscribed  life  of  the  family,  and  to 
acquire  an  interest  in  the  life  of  society  and  a  proclivity  to 


4l]  KINDERGARTEN    EDUCATION  .  9 

form  relationship  with  it.  This  increases  until  the  school 
period  begins,  at  his  seventh  year.  The  fourth,  fifth  and 
sixth  years  are  years  of  transition  not  well  provided  for 
either  by  family  life  or  by  social  life  in  the  United  States. 
In  families  of  great  poverty  the  child  forms  evil  associations 
in  the  street,  and  is  initiated  into  crime.  By  the  time  he  is 
ready  to  enter  the  school  he  is  hardened  in  vicious  habits, 
beyond  the  power  of  the  school  to  eradicate.  In  families  of 
wealth,  the  custom  is  to  entrust  the  care  of  the  child  in  this 
period  of  his  life  to  some  servant  without  pedagogical  skill 
and  generally  without  strength  of  will  power.  The  child  of 
wealthy  parents  usually  inherits  the  superior  directive  power 
of  the  parents,  who  have  by  their  energy  acquired  and  pre- 
served the  wealth.  Its  manifestation  in  the  child  is  not 
reasonable,  considerate  will  power,  but  arbitrariness  and  self- 
will  —  with  such  a  degree  of  stubbornness  that  it  quite  over- 
comes the  much  feebler  native  will  of  the  servant  who  has 
charge  of  the  children.  It  is  difficult  to  tell  which  class 
(poor  or  rich,)  the  kindergarten  benefits  most.  Society  is 
benefited  by  the  substitution  of  a  rational  training  of  the 
child's  will  during  his  transition  period.  If  he  is  a  child  of 
poverty,  he  is  saved  by  the  good  associations  and  the  indus- 
trial and  intellectual  training  that  he  gets.  If  he  is  a  child 
of  wealth,  he  is  saved  by  the  kindergarten  from  ruin  through 
self-indulgence  and  the  corruption  ensuing  on  weak  manage- 
ment in  the  family.  The  worst  elements  in  the  community 
are  the  corrupted  and  ruined  men  who  were  once  youth  of 
unusual  directive  power, —  children  of  parents  of  strong  will." 

By  reducing  his  argument  in  favor  of  the  kindergarten  to 
a  brief  statement  which  no  one  could  dispute  and  whose 
force  every  one  could  appreciate.  Dr.  Harris  greatly 
increased  its  weight,  and  immediately  upon  the  publication 
of  his  report  the  movement  in  favor  of  public  kindergartens 
showed  an  increased  momentum.  In  the  twenty-nine  years 
which  have  elapsed  since  the  successful  experiment  in  St. 
Louis  the  kindergarten  has  been  made  part  of  the  public 
school  system  in  one  hundred  and  eighty-nine  cities.  In 
1897-98  the  total  number  of  public  kindergartens  was  1,365  ; 
the  total  number  of  teachers  2,532-  the  total  number  of 
pupils  95,867. 


10 


KINDERGARTEN    EDUCATION 


[42 


The  cities  which  have  the  most  fully  developed  systems  of 
public  kindergartens  are  Boston,  Chicago,  St.  Louis,  Phila- 
delphia, New  York,  Brooklyn,  Indianapolis,  Rochester,  Des 
Moines,  Grand  Rapids,  Brookline,  Newark,  Jamestown  and 
Los  Angeles.  Philadelphia,  which  reports  201  kindergartens, 
leads  in  numbers  all  the  cities  of  the  United  States.  St. 
Louis  follows  with  115  kindergartens.  New  York  with  100, 
Boston  with  67,  and  Chicago  with  63.  An  estimate,  based 
on  the  sale  of  kindergarten  material,  fixes  the  total  number 
of  kindergartens  in  New  York  at  600,  so  that,  including 
private  work  and  association  work,,  this  city  has  presum- 
ably a  more  extensive  provision  of  kindergartens  than  any 
other  in  the  United  States. 

Sixteen  cities  have  a  special  supervisor  of  kindergartens. 

The  following  states  have  the  most  extensive  provision  of 
kindergartens,  public  and  private.  The  order  of  the  names 
indicates  the  relative  extent  of  the  provision  : 

1  New  York  8  Wisconsin 

2  Massachusetts  9  Pennsylvania 

3  Michigan  10  Ohio 

4  Illinois  II  Indiana 

5  California  12  Iowa 

6  Connecticut  13  Colorado 

7  New  Jersey  14  Minnesota 

15  Washington 

In  the  year  1873  the  National  bureau  of  education  began 
collecting  statistics  with  regard  to  the  total  number  of  kin- 
dergartens in  the  United  States.  The  results  are  necessa- 
rily imperfect,  but  they  enable  us  to  form  an  approximate 
idea  of  the  growth  of  the  system.  Taking  public  and  pri- 
vate work  together,  the  advance  of  the  kindergarten  is  shown 
in  the  following  tables : 


1873 


1882 


1892 


Kindergartens 

Teachers 

Pupils 


42 

n 

I  252 


348 

814 

16916 


I  311 

2535 
65  296 


4363 

8937 

189604 


43]  KINDERGARTEN    EDUCATION  II 

Since  the  aim  of  the  kindergarten  is  not  instruction,  but 
development,  its  results  cannot  be  tested  by  examinations  or 
expressed  in  statistical  tables,  but  must  be  gathered  from 
the  testimony  of  experts  who  have  had  time  and  opportunity 
to  study  its  influence.  In  other  words,  kindergarten  children 
must  be  judged  by  elementary  teachers  and  principals  of 
schools,  and  unless,  upon  entering  the  primary  grade,  they 
show  superiority  to  children  coming  direct  from  the  home, 
the  kindergarten  cannot  be  said  to  have  justified  its  adoption 
into  our  national  system  of  education.  Conversely,  if  the 
mental  and  moral  superiority  of  kindergarten  children  prove 
to  have  converted  primary  teachers  and  school  principals 
from  enemies  into  warm  friends  of  the  Froebelian  method, 
this  fact  should  be  accepted  as  convincing  evidence  of  the 
merit  of  the  work. 

Before  presenting  the  testimony  which  I  have  collected, 
it  is  necessary  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that,  in  the  kinder- 
garten, talking  is  not  forbidden,  but,  on  the  contrary,  chil- 
dren are  encouraged  to  share  with  the  kindergartner  and 
with  each  other  all  their  happy  experience  of  effort  and  suc- 
cess. It  is,  therefore,  natural  that  pupils  promoted  from  the 
kindergarten  should  not  at  first  understand  the  law  of  silence 
imposed  by  the  character  of  the  work  in  the  elementary 
grades,  and  hence  that,  without  any  bad  motive  on  their 
own  part,  they  should  prove  troublesome  pupils  during  the 
first  weeks  of  school  life.  The  failure  to  understand  this  fact 
has  caused  some  unjust  criticism  of  kindergarten  children. 
It  will,  however,  be  apparent  to  all  who  read  carefully  the 
testimony  now  to  be  submitted  that  the  adjustment  of  the 
kindergarten  child  to  the  school  environment  is  a  problem 
which  is  rapidly  progressing  towards  a  happy  solution. 

The  more  complete  the  testimony  offered,  the  more  cer- 
tainly should  we  expect  to  find  some  differences  of  opinion 
as  to  the  characteristics  of  kindergarten  children.  In  any 
large  city  there  will  probably  be  a  few  incompetent  kinder- 
gartners  and  some  unintelligent  or  reactionary  primarj'^ 
teachers.     That  the  kindergarten  fails  to  commend  itself  to 


12  KINDERGARTEN    EDUCATION  [44 

teachers  who  are  themselves  mere  martinets  should  be 
accounted  a  merit  rather  than  a  defect.  The  condemnation 
of  incompetent  kindergartners  by  wise  primary  teachers  is  a 
cause  of  rejoicing  to  all  true  friends  of  the  Froebelian 
method.  T  he  influence  of  the  kindergarten  should  be 
determined  by  the  majority  report.  Variations  of  opinion 
should  be  explained  by  the  occasional  defect  of  the  kinder- 
gartens and  the  occasional  incapacity  or  prejudice  of  the 
judge. 

The  most  extensive  and  carefully  collected  information 
which  I  have  received  with  regard  to  the  characteristics  of 
kindergarten  children  came  from  Miss  Laura  Fisher,  director 
of  the  sixty-nine  public  kindergartens  of  Boston,  and  con- 
sisted of  163  letters  from  teachers  of  the  first  grade  sent  in 
reply  to  the  following  circular  communication  from  Mr. 
Edwin  P.  Seaver,  superintendent  of  the  Boston  schools: 

"  To  the  principals  of  districts  : 

"  For  the  Paris  Exposition  of  1900  Miss  Susan  E.  Blow 
has  been  appointed  to  prepare  a  monograph  of  the  kinder- 
garten in  the  United  States.  She  desires  to  use  the  infor- 
mation which  you  can  gather  by  asking  teachers  of  your  first 
grade  primary  to  answer  carefully  the  questions  hereto 
appended.  Please  give  a  copy  of  these  questions  to  each 
first  grade  teacher,  asking  her  to  prepare  her  answers  and 
give  them  to  you  as  soon  as  possible.  Ask  her  to  be  per- 
fectly frank  in  her  expression  of  opinion  even  if  she  must 
make  some  unfavorable  criticisms. 

"In  returning  the  answers  to  me  after  you  have  collected 
them,  you  will  confer  a  great  favor  if  you  yourself  will  write 
your  impressions  of  the  kindergarten  system  of  instruction. 

'*  QUESTIONS 

"  I.  How  many  years  have  you  taught  children  in  the 
first  grade? 

"  2.  About  what  proportion  (per  cent)  of  your  children 
have  come  to  you  from  the  kindergarten  ? 

"  3.  What,  if  anything,  have  you  observed  as  to  the  char- 
acteristics of  kindergarten  children  as  compared  with  other 
children  ? 


45]  KINDERGARTEN    EDUCATION  1 3 

"  4.  How  do  you  think  the  kindergarten  training  has  affected 
the  progress  of  the  children  in  the  primary  grade,  particu- 
larly in  your  own  grade  ?  Has  their  progress  been  quicker 
in  point  of  time  ?  Has  the  character  of  the  work  done  been 
improved  ?" 

From  the  163  letters  received  in  reply  to  this  circular  I 
eliminated  those  reporting  that  less  than  ten  per  cent  of  the 
children  attending  the  given  primary  room  had  received 
kindergarten  training.  I  also  omitted  several  letters  based 
upon  experience  with  children  who  had  been  only  a  few 
weeks  or  months  in  the  kindergarten.  The  total  number  of 
letters  omitted  was  36.  Of  the  remaining  127  letters  102 
are  favorable  and  2  5  unfavorable  to  the  kindergarten.  Among 
the  letters  which  I  have  classed  as  unfavorable  one  only  is 
unqualified  in  its  disapprobation.  All  the  others  admit 
some  distinctive  merits  in  kindergarten  children,  those  most 
frequently  specified  being  increased  power  of  observation 
and  linguistic  expression,  greater  manual  skill,  and  more 
general  information.  The  most  frequent  criticisms  are  that 
kindergarten  children  are  talkative  and  not  easily  amenable 
to  school  discipline.  I  quote  two  letters  which  represent  the 
general  trend  of  unfavorable  criticism  : 

I 

"  I  have  taught  the  lowest  grade  one  year,  two  months. 

*'  About  fifty  per  cent  of  my  children  came  from  the 
kindergarten. 

"  I  find  the  kindergarten  children  are  less  inclined  to  obey 
quickly.  They  have  acquired  the  habit  of  whispering  over 
their  work  which  has  seriously  hurt  my  other  children.  I 
find  they  understand  in  some  cases  more  quickly  than  the 
other  children  and  are  more  deft  with  their  fingers. 

"  My  kindergarten  children  are  evenly  scattered  over  my 
class.  Owing  to  limited  experience  I  think  I  am  hardly 
competent  to  make  a  trustworthy  estimate  of  the  work  of 
kindergarten  children  as  compared  with  others.  The  chil- 
dren who  came  from  home  were  nearly  seven  years  of  age, 
and  as  the  children  who  came  from  the  kindergarten  were 
in  most  cases  younger,  there  has  been  but  little  difference  in 
the  results  of  their  work." 


14  KINDERGARTEN    EDUCATION  [46 


II 

"  I  have  taught  children  in  the  first  grade  something  over 
two  years  in  all.  About  one-fifth  of  this  present  class  has 
attended  a  kindergarten,  but  has  not  come  direct  to  me  from 
there. 

*'  I  have  noticed  that  they  observe  much  more  closely 
than  ordinary  children,  that  they  are  skillful  with  their  hands 
in  any  kind  of  work  that  calls  for  skill,  as  drawing,  clay 
work,  science,  etc.  That  in  the  arrangement  of  material, 
such  as  busy  work,  they  are  more  orderly  and  careful  in 
arrangement.  I  have  found  by  looking  the  matter  up  that 
the  children  who  have  passed  through  kindergarten  now  pres- 
ent in  my  room  are  among  the  worst  behaved  and  trouble- 
some in  the  whole  room.  I  also  notice  a  habit  to  watch  each 
other's  work  too  much. 

"  I  cannot  say  that  I  have  found  them  any  more  able  to 
take  the  work  than  ordinary  children.  I  do  not  know  that 
their  minds  are  any  more  fitted  for  the  retention  of  new 
ideas.  I  think,  in  some  cases,  the  work  is  better  done  by 
these  children  than  it  would  be  without  such  training.  But  I 
do  not  know  that  some  of  the  others  would  have  done  any  bet- 
ter work  with  the  kindergarten  training.  For  some  children 
I  think  it  a  great  help,  for  others  I  might  say  unnecessary." 

Contrasting  the  102  favorable  with  the  25  unfavorable 
letters,  the  first  fact  which  thrusts  itself  upon  the  notice  of 
the  reader  is  that  the  majority  of  their  writers  seem  to  have 
had  little  difficulty  in  solving  the  problem  of  discipline.  A 
large  proportion  of  these  letters  make  no  direct  reference  to 
this  question,  while  the  account  given  of  the  moral  charac- 
teristics of  kindergarten  children  precludes  the  thought 
that  they  have  been  found  difficult  to  control.  Most  of  the 
varying  shades  of  opinion  expressed  by  the  remaining  writ- 
ers are  indicated  in  the  following  extracts,  and  in  the  letters 
quoted  in  full  at  the  conclusion  of  my  summary  of  the  Bos- 
ton testimony  in  behalf  of  the  kindergarten  : 

DISCIPLINE 

*'  During  the  first  weeks  of  the  school  term  the  children 
from  the  kindergarten  are  very  lively,  in  fact  more  so  than 


47]  KINDERGARTEN    EDUCATION  1 5 

IS  best  for  the  good  order  of  the  school  room.  This  is 
due  to  the  great  amount  of  freedom  which  the  children  are 
allowed  in  the  kindergarten.  This  fault,  if  it  may  be  con- 
sidered as  such,  must  be  corrected.  When  the  child  realizes 
that  he  is  in  a  new  atmosphere  and  that  he  must  attend  to 
one  person  he  very  soon  adapts  himself  to  the  change." 


"  The  kindergarten  has  done  so  much  that  is  of  great 
value  to  the  children,  that  I  am  willing  to  overlook  the  only 
little  difficulty  that  I  have  found.  During  the  first  few 
weeks  of  school  the  children  like  to  go  about  and  show  their 
little  friends  what  they  have  succeeded  in  doing  or  finding 
out  and  whisper  or  talk  about  it.  But  they  soon  learn  that 
we  can  all  work  better  when  each  one  takes  care  of  his 
own  work  and  the  inclination  to  move  and  talk  gradually 
diminishes." 

3 
"  The  children   I   received  from  the  kindergarten  were 
more  restless  at  first.     They  were  easier  to  discipline  after  a 
short  time." 

4 
"  Kmdergarten  children  are  alert  and  active,  with  eager 
questioning  minds  and  eyes  that  see  and  note  everything. 
They  know  how  to  use  their  hands  and  how  to  talk  and  are 
lovable  and  sympathetic.  They  come  to  the  primary  room 
happy,  self-confident  and  talkative.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
discipline  of  such  children  is  very  hard  and  it  requires  the 
greatest  effort  on  the  teacher's  part  to  accustom  them  to  the 
quiet,  independent  work  of  the  primary  room." 

5 
"  Entering  school  from  the  kindergarten  the  children  have 
already  learned  their  social  relations  and  their  obligations  to 
their  companions.  Hence  from  the  first  there  is  an  absence 
of  shyness  and  fear,  and  a  school  made  up  of  kindergarten 
children  is  a  delightfully  social  community.  This  trait,  if 
firmly  and  tactfully  dealt  with,  leads  not  to  disorder  but  to 
right  school  spirit.  I  have  not  found  it  more  dififtcult  to 
tone  down  this  trait  than  to  arouse  it  as  it  lies  dormant  in 
other  children." 


1 6  KINDERGARTEN    EDUCATION  [48 


"  Each  year  the  kindergarten  children  come  to  school 
better  prepared  than  the  year  before.  I  have  noted  this 
particularly  in  regard  to  discipline.  They  are  each  year 
more  ready  to  settle  down  to  quiet  work.  They  seem  each 
year  to  be  more  evenly  developed." 

7 
"  The  discipline  in  my  class  during  the  time  I  had  kinder- 
garten children  was  as  good,  if  not  better,  than  it  was  when 
I  had  children  come  to  me  from  their  homes.     In  point  of 
fact,  I  much  prefer  the  kindergarten  children." 


"  The  moral  side  of  the  child's  nature  receives  special  care 
in  the  kindergarten.  The  careful,  firm  discipline  of  the  kin- 
dergarten has  a  great  effect  upon  the  receptive  minds  and 
hearts  of  the  children.  Many  of  the  mothers  are  glad  to 
testify  to  this  influence..  The  rough  child  grows  more  gentle, 
the  thoughtless  child  more  careful." 

9 

"  The  most  important  characteristic  of  my  kindergarten 
children  was  their  high  moral  tone.  There  was  among  them 
more  than  the  usual  spirit  of  kindness,  good  will  and  help- 
fulness. They  were  more  easily  controlled  than  other  chil- 
dren by  an  appeal  to  reason  or  honor.  For  little  children, 
they  had  a  very  quick  perception  of  right  and  wrong." 

10 

"  Kindergarten  children  give  so  much  better  attention, 
follow  directions  so  much  more  readily  and  apply  themselves 
so  much  more  diligently  that  they  progress  much  more  rap- 
idly than  other  children.  Their  work  is  always  well  done 
and  they  do  all  the  work  given  them,  particularly  what  is 
known  as  busy  work.  A  great  deal  of  time  is  saved  in  this 
way  and  the  discipline  of  the  school  is  made  much  easier." 

Replying  to  the  questions  with  regard  to  the  relative 
progress   of    kindergarten    children    and   the  character    of 


49]  KINDERGARTEN    EDUCATION  1 7 

their  work  thirty-eight  teachers  report  both  a  progress 
quicker  in  point  of  time  and  improvement  in  the  quality  of 
work.  Thirteen  teachers  report  increased  rapidity  without 
change  in  the  character  of  work,  and  twenty-eight  improve- 
ment in  the  character  of  work  without  increased  rapidity  of 
progress.  Thus  fifty-one  report  greater  rapidity,  sixty-six 
improvement  in  quality  of  work,  and  seventy-nine  a  decided 
gain  either  in  speed  or  quality  or  in  both.  The  remaining 
twenty-three  teachers  seem  to  consider  that  kindergarten 
training  increases  the  child's  general  intelligence  but  does 
not  noticeably  affect  the  ordinary  routine  of  school  work. 

In  the  Kindergarten  Magazine  for  March  of  the  current 
year  Miss  Sarah  Louise  Arnold,  superintendent  of  primary 
schools,  Boston,  pronounces  a  judgment  which  confirms 
the  majority  report  of  the  teachers  whose  testimony  I  have 
summarized.  Her  statement  is  as  follows :  "  As  a  matter  of 
fact  the  children  who  have  had  the  full  kindergarten  training 
advance  much  more  rapidly  than  do  the  children  who  come 
to  the  primary  room  without  such  training.  In  certain 
schools  the  kindergarten  children  have  been  separated  from 
the  other  children  entering  the  first  grade,  and  have  been 
taught  by  teachers  who  understood  the  work  of  the  kinder- 
garten. In  almost  every  instance  these  classes  have  com- 
pleted the  primary  course  in  two  years  instead  of  three." 

To  the  disciple  of  Froebel  the  most  interesting  para- 
graphs of  the  Boston  letters  are  those  which  answer  the 
question,  "  What,  if  anything,  have  you  observed  as  to  the 
characteristics  of  kindergarten  children  as  compared  with 
other  children?"  In  condensing  these  replies  I  have 
grouped  them  under  three  heads,  first,  specific  gain  in 
knowledge  and  skill,  second,  intellectual,  and,  third,  moral 
characteristics.  The  specific  gains  mentioned  are  clearer 
ideas  of  number,  form  and  color ;  greater  knowledge  of  and 
interest  in  nature,  improved  singing,  better  expression  in 
reading,  improved  articulation,  more  orderly  and  careful 
arrangement  of  material  in  busy  work,  and  greater  manual 
skill  shown  especially  in  writing  and  drawing.     The  Intel- 


1 8  KINDERGARTEN    EDUCATION  [50 

lectual  characteristics  of  kindergarten  children  as  compared 
with  others  are  said  to  be  greater  general  activity  of  mind, 
quicker  comprehension,  a  more -^^-eceptive  mental  attitude, 
greater  logical  power,  greater  concentration,  more  imagina- 
tion, greatly  increased  powers  of  observation  and  expression, 
quicker  recognition  of  likenesses,  differences  and  relations, 
greater  love  for  the  beautiful  and  visibly  increased  origi- 
nality and  creative  power.  Of  their  moral  characteristics  it 
is  said  that  as  compared  with  others  kindergarten  children 
are  neater,  cleaner,  more  orderly,  more  industrious  and  more 
persevering.  They  are  also  more  self-reliant,  more  pains- 
taking and  more  self-helpful.  They  are  less  self-conscious 
and  more  polite.  They  obey  more  quickly  and  are  more 
gentle  towards  each  other.  They  have  a  more  developed 
spirit  of  helpfulness.  They  are  more  eager,  alert,  enthusi- 
astic and  responsive.  They  are  interested  in  a  wider  range 
of  subjects.  They  have  finer  sensibilities,  manifest  love  for 
and  confidence  in  their  teachers  and  show  special  interest  in 
everything  pertaining  to  home  and  family  life. 

In  thus  condensing  the  evidence  of  many  different  writers 
I  necessarily  rob  it  of  force  and  color.  It  seems  well,  there- 
fore, to  present  a  limited  number  of  replies  in  full  in  order 
that  readers  may  judge  for  themselves  of  the  impression 
created  by  kindergarten  children  upon  teachers  of  different 
character,  age  and  experience. 

I 

"  I  have  taught  children  in  the  first  grade  about  six  years. 
About  35  per  cent  have  come  to  me  from  the  kindergarten. 

"  These  children  show  certain  characteristics  which  are 
not  so  fully  developed  in  the  other  children.  Their  intel- 
lectual qualities  are,  as  a  rule,  more  fully  developed,  espe- 
cially perception,  imagination,  memory  and  power  of  thought. 
Their  sensibilities,  too,  as  a  general  thing,  are  much  quicker 
to  act.  For  example,  if  a  flower  is  given  to  each  member 
of  the  class,  it  is  the  little  boy  or  girl  who  has  attended  the 
kindergarten  who  is  the  first  to  feel  its  beauty.  Power  of 
expression  is  well  developed  in  these  children.     What  stands 


5l]  KINDERGARTEN    EDUCATION  1 9 

out  more  than  anything  else  in  these  small  kindergarten 
people  is  the  cheerful,  sunny  atmosphere  they  bring  to  the 
primary  room  and  the  spirit  of  kindness  and  helpfulness. 
In  other  words,  they  have  begun  to  come  into  that  stage 
where  love  for  all  humanity  is  developed  in  a  simple  child- 
like way.  It  seems  to  me  that  this  is  the  most  important 
characteristic  of  the  child  from  the  kindergarten. 

'*  I  think  the  progress  of  these  children  in  the  primary 
school  is  greatly  facilitated  by  their  previous  training. 
Their  progress  has  been  quicker  as  to  time.  The  character 
of  the  work  done  has  been  improved." 

II 

"  I  have  taught  children  in  the  first  grade  two  years. 

"  The  first  year  72  per  cent  had  attended  kindergarten  ; 
the  second  year  74  per  cent. 

"  The  kindergarten  child  observes  more  quickly  and  with 
greater  accuracy.  He  is  methodical  in  thought,  and,  conse- 
quently, in  all  expression,  oral,  written  and  manual.  From 
an  ethical  standpoint  he  is  superior  to  the  non-kindergarten 
child.  In  all  ways  he  is  more  intelligent,  more  nearly  the 
being  his  Creator  meant  him  to  be. 

"The  kindergarten  training  has  been  a  powerful  agent  in 
stimulating  the  ambition  of  the  child  and  in  making  pro- 
gress a  continual  joy. 

"  In  the  majority  of  cases  the  progress  of  the  kinder- 
garten children  has  been  quicker  in  point  of  time.  In  all 
cases  the  character  of  the  work  has  been  improved." 

Ill 

"  I  have  taught  a  little  over  two  years  in  the  first  grade. 

"  Last  year  all  my  children  had  attended  the  kindergarten  ; 
this  year  only  5  per  cent. 

"  I  have  found  that  where  tne  cnildren  have  had  a  kinder- 
garten training  they  are  much  more  industrious,  interested, 
observant,  enthusiastic,  imaginative,  responsive  and  courte- 
ous. They  have  more  general  information.  The  training 
they  have  received  is  a  great  help  in  number,  language, 
expression  in  reading,  drawing  and  all  manual  work. 

*'  The  progress  has  been  quicker  in  point  of  time,  and  the 
work  on  an  average  much  neater." 


20  KINDERGARTEN    EDUCATION  [52 


IV 

"  I  have  taught  children  in  the  first  grade  for  five  years. 

"  Until  November  of  the  present  school  year  about  80 
per  cent  of  my  children  have  come  to  me  from  the  kinder- 
garten. Very  few  children  have  come  directly  to  me  from 
their  homes.  Those  who  have  not  come  from  the  kinder- 
garten have  usually  spent  more  or  less  time  in  the  first  grade 
before  they  have  come  to  me. 

"  The  majority  of  the  kindergarten  children  have  been 
more  anxious  to  work.  They  have  had  more  confidence  in 
their  ability  to  do  what  is  required  of  them,  and  have  shown 
more  perseverance  in  conquering  difftculties.  Their  work 
has  been  cleaner,  neater  and  arranged  in  a  more  orderly 
manner.  Their  power  of  concentration  is  much  stronger. 
Their  creative  power  is  also  much  more  highly  developed. 
Through  their  games  and  talks,  they  have  acquired  more 
knowledge  of  the  world  about  them,  which  knowledge  has 
been  of  much  help  to  them  in  their  new  work,  especially  in 
reading,  language  and  drawing.  They  have  learned  to  write 
more  readily,  and  they  have  clearer  ideas  of  number.  Their 
love  of  the  beautiful  and  their  power  of  appreciating  beauti- 
ful thoughts  have  been  much  greater. 

"  As  a  rule,  the  child  who  has  had  a  full  kindergarten 
training  has  done  much  better,  stronger  work  in  the  first 
grade  than  one  who  has  been  in  the  kindergarten  but  a 
short  time,  or  than  one  whose  attendance  has  been  very 
irregular. 

"  Progress  has  been  quicker  in  point  of  time,  for  the  chil- 
dren who  have  had  the  benefit  of  the  full  kindergarten 
training  have  accomplished  more  in  a  given  time  than  those 
of  the  same  age  who  have  not  received  the  same  training. 
The  character  of  the  work  has  been  improved." 

V 

"  I  have  taught  children  in  the  first  grade  thirty-two  years. 

"  Since  the  kindergarten  was  established  in  our  district, 
about  four  years  ago,  about  fifty  per  cent  of  my  pupils  have 
come  to  me  from  that  grade.  Before  that  time,  I  received 
only  a  few  children  from  the  kindergarten. 

"  The  characteristics  of  kindergarten  children  consist  of 
trained  powers  of  observation,  skill  in  using  the  hands,  a 


53]  KINDERGARTEN    EDUCATION  21 

knowledge  of  number,  form,  color  and  music.  A  great  deal 
has  been  done  for  some  children  in  teaching  them  self-control. 

"  I  think  the  effect  of  the  kindergarten  training  has  been 
decidedly  favorable  to  the  progress  of  the  children  in  my 
own  grade. 

"  Their  progress  in  point  of  time  has  not  been  much 
quicker,  as  I  have  had  very  few  who  have  had  more  than 
one  year  of  kindergarten  training,  and  several  of  the 
bright  ones  have  been  delicate  children  who  could  only 
attend  half  a  day  or  quite  irregularly. 

**  I  have  a  class  of  children  whose  parents  are  not  anxious 
to  have  them  pushed. 

"  The  character  of  the  work  done  has  been  much  improved." 

VI 

"  I  have  taught  four  years,  one  m  the  Hancock  district 
and  three  in  the  W.  Allston. 

"  The  first  year  fifty  per  cent  of  my  children  were  from 
the  kindergarten ;  the  second,  third  and  fourth  years  about 
fifteen  per  cent. 

"  Kindergarten  children  are  creative,  self-active  and  inde- 
pendent. They  are  accustomed  to  school  life  and  used  to 
being  one  of  many  instead  of  one  alone. 

"  They  have  been  waked  up  and  are  used  to  thinking. 
They  are  ready  to  begin  to  learn,  whereas  other  children, 
with  the  exception  of  those  who  have  brilliant  minds,  have 
to  become  accustomed  to  school  work.  Kindergarten  chil- 
dren have  learned  how  to  work,  how  to  use  their  hands,  how 
to  care  for  property. 

"  They  have  a  good  foundation  for  any  kind  of  work. 

"  For  the  above  reasons  they  are  able  to  do  the  work  of 
my  grade  in  half  the  prescribed  time.  They  always  get 
more  out  of  their  work  than  other  children  and  are  always 
at  the  head  of  the  class." 

VII 

"  I  have  taught  six  years  in  the  first  grade.  About  30 
per  cent  of  my  children  have  come  to  me  from  the 
kindergarten. 

"  I  have  observed  that  kindergarten  children  are  interested 
and  ready  at  once  for  the  work.  The  other  children  do  not 
know  how  to  act.  Much  time  is  taken  up  in  teaching  them 
minor  details.     They  are  not  so  quick  with  their  fingers. 


22  KINDERGARTEN    EDUCATION  [54 

"  The  kindergarten  children  know  how  to  handle  their 
pencils  and  learn  to  write  in  a  very  short  time. 

"In  every  case  the  kindergarten  children  have  shown 
marked  progress  in  the  primary  grades. 

"  Toward  the  latter  part  of  the  school  year  they  have 
done  second  grade  work.  I  have  been  interested  in  follow- 
ing their  course  through  the  grammar  school,  and  have  found 
that  they  received  double  promotion." 


VIII 

"  I  have  taught  children  in  the  first  grade  fifteen  years. 

"  Last  year  about  fifty  per  cent,  this  year  about  sixty  per 
cent,  and  in  preceding  years  perhaps  thirty  or  forty  per  cent, 
of  my  children  came  to  me  from  the  kindergarten. 

"  I  find  the  children  who  have  had  two  years  of  kinder- 
garten training  ready  to  do  the  work  of  the  first  grade, 
whereas  other  children  need  a  great  deal  of  preliminary 
work.  The  muscles  of  the  hands  of  these  children  have 
been  so  trained  that  they  are  ready  to  use  pen  or  pencil  for 
writing  and  drawing,  ready  to  cut  and  fold  paper,  ready  to 
handle  material  for  seat  work.  This  training  of  the  hands 
has  had  its  corresponding  development  in  the  brain,  and 
their  minds  are  ready  to  intelligently  guide  the  hands  and 
to  grasp  new  ideas.  Their  eyes  have  been  so  trained  that 
they  are  ready  for  the  color,  form  and  observation  work. 
This  training  of  the  eye  affects  also  the  work  in  reading  very 
noticeably,  as  the  children  distinguish  the  forms  of  words 
and  letters  more  easily.  Their  ears  have  been  so  trained 
that  they  are  ready  to  listen  and  follow  directions.  Their 
number  experiences  have  been  many  and  varied,  and  it  is  in 
arithmetic  especially  that  I  notice  their  advantage  over  other 
children. 

"  In  fact  the  normal  child  who  has  had  a  thorough  kinder- 
garten training  does  rapidly,  and  with  ease,  understanding, 
joy  and  appreciation  what  the  normal  child  without  this 
training  does  slowly  and  with  difficulty. 

"  The  kindergarten  training  has  helped  many  of  my  chil- 
dren to  do  the  work  of  the  primary  grade  in  less  time  than 
other  children,  but  I  think  the  great  gain  has  been  in  the 
character  of  the  work.  It  has  been  in  quality  rather  than 
in  quantity  :  in  enrichment  and  expansion  rather  than  in 
extent" 


55]  KINDERGARTEN    EDUCATION  23 


IX 

"  I  have  taught  children  in  the  first  grade  eight  years. 

"  I  have  always  had  some  kindergarten  children  in  my 
class  with  the  exception  of  this  year.  Last  year  my  class 
was  made  up  wholly  of  the  kindergarten  children.  The 
kindergarten  children  are  wide-awake.  I  never  had  such 
an  enthusiastic  spirit  in  my  class  as  I  did  the  year  it  was 
made  up  wholly  of  kindergarten  children.  The  children 
who  come  directly  from  home  are,  as  a  rule,  diffident,  and  not 
responsive.  It  usually  takes  two  weeks  to  get  acquainted, 
to  find  some  common  bonds  of  interest.  The' kindergarten 
children  I  had  watched  in  the  kindergarten.  I  knew  the 
stories  and  pictures  they  loved ;  the  work  they  had  done 
in  form  and  color,  and  the  games  they  had  played.  We 
were  friends  at  once,  and  the  work  began  earlier  and  with 
less  friction.  The  children  from  home  stand  in  awe  of  the 
teacher ;  the  others  have  grown  to  love  school  and  its 
work.  The  spirit  of  helpfulness  is  very  strong.  The  first 
two  weeks  of  school  I  was  troubled  with  the  discipline. 
The  children  talked  aloud  and  hummed,  but  they  worked. 
The  humming  did  mean  a  happy  spirit,  but  of  course  it  did 
hinder  the  work.  The  talking  without  permission  I  found 
was  almost  always  prompted  by  good  motives.  At  the  end 
of  three  weeks  these  children  succeeded  very  well  in  these 
directions.  They  are  good  workers  and  they  must  have 
enough  to  do.  Folding  hands  and  sitting  up  straight  does 
not  appeal  to  them. 

"  The  training  given  the  children  in  the  kindergarten 
enables  them  to  take  up  work  more  intelligently.  They  are 
wide-awake  in  observation  lessons.  They  are  quick  in  rec- 
ognition of  form  and  color,  and  in  seeing  resemblances. 
They  are  intensely  interested  in  stories  and  poems.  I  never 
had  a  class  who  read  with  so  much  expression.  I  think  the 
work  done  in  the  kindergarten  songs  sweetened  their  voices. 
Of  course  I  do  not  think  the  kindergarten  training  makes  a 
dull  boy  bright,  but  I  do  think  that  a  dull  child  is  brighter 
and  more  responsive  than  if  he  had  not  had  this  training. 

"  In  point  of  time,  if  by  that  is  meant  double  promotions,  • 
the  children  have  not  gone  on  any  faster.     But  I  do  think 
the  children  were  better  developed  and  more  ready  to  take 
up  the  second  grade  work  than  the  children  entering  the 
first  grade  from  home. 


24  KINDERGARTEN    EDUCATION  [56 

"  I  think  the  kindergarten  children  do  better  ana  neater 
work.  They  are  more  self-reliant.  They  have  more  cre- 
ative power  and  are  always  ready  with  new  combinations  in 
design  work."  ^ 

X 

"  I  have  taught  the  lowest  grade  in  the  primary  school  for 
four  years.  My  first  class  contained  no  kindergarten  chil- 
dren ;  my  second,  third  and  fourth  contained  33  1-3,  100  and 
70  per  cent  respectively,  making  an  average  of  51  per  cent. 

"  I  have  found  the  kindergarten  children  to  have  broader, 
more  original  and  better  trained  minds  than  most  of  the 
other  children.  They  are  better  able  to  concentrate  their 
attention  ;  they  grasp  an  idea  more  readily  and  go  ahead  by 
themselves.  They  distinguish  form  more  quickly,  and  so 
learn  to  write  and  read  in  a  shorter  time  than  the  others. 
They  have  already  formed  habits  of  cleanliness  and  punctu- 
ality which,  with  other  children  of  the  lower  classes,  we  have 
to  struggle  some  months  to  establish. 

"  I  think  the  kindergarten  training  has  advanced  the  pro- 
gress of  the  children  in  the  primary  school  both  in  point  of 
time  and  in  the  character  of  the  work.  If  a  child  has  had 
two  years'  training  in  a  kindergarten  and  then  enters  my 
room  at  the  age  of  five  and  a  half  or  six  he  can  generally 
finish  the  first  grade  work  by  March  first  and  enter  the  third 
grade  in  September,  and,  as  I  have  stated  in  the  previous 
paragraph,  the  work  is  better  and  more  intelligently  done 
and  shows  much  originality." 

XI 

'*  It  is  a  great  pleasure  to  me  to  have  the  opportunity 
offered  by  the  questions  sent  us  relative  to  kindergarten 
work  in  preparation  for  the  Paris  Exposition  to  say  that  I 
think  the  kindergarten  training  is  of  vital  importance  to  the 
children  of  foreign  and  ignorant  parentage  such  as  we  have 
in  our  district.  From  general  judgment  I  say  that  all  chil- 
dren need  the  kindergarten,  but  I  know  that  it  is  of  the  first 
importance  to  those  who  come  from  oppressed,  lawless  and 
unlovely  homes.  I  hope  the  fact  that  I  have  taught  only  two 
years  in  this  grade  will  not  render  my  testimony  worthless. 

'*  Last  year  about  5  per  cent  of  my  children  had  had  some, 
but  not  a  complete  kindergarten  training.  This  year,  for 
one  month,  about  95  per  cent  of  my  children  were  from  the 


57]  KINDERGARTEN    EDUCATION  25 

kindergarten.  At  the  end  of  that  time  the  best  45  per  cent 
moved  on,  the  rest  remaining  with  me.  None  of  those  left 
with  me  had  completed  the  kindergarten  course  before  enter- 
ing the  primary  grade.  That  one  month's  experience  with 
nearly  a  whole  class  of  kindergarten  children  was  delightful. 

"  To  my  mind  the  comparative  characteristics  of  the  kin- 
dergarten child  and  the  street  child  are  these  : 

"  The  kindergarten  child  observes  and  discriminates ;  is 
intelligent  in  his  attitude  towards  things ;  is  able  to  remem- 
ber things  taught :  is  ingenious,  spontaneous,  interested  and 
imaginative  ;  has  a  sense  of  honor  and  respects  the  property 
and  rights  of  others  ;  is  gentle,  kind,  helpful  and  thought- 
ful ;  possesses  a  sense  of  the  beautiful,  and  a  sense  of  indi- 
vidual moral  responsibility ;  is  cognizant  of  the  Supreme 
Being  and  reverential. 

"  The  street  child  is  unobservant,  dull  in  attitude,  weak 
in  imagination,  indifferent  to  things.  He  is  rough,  shame- 
less, thoughtless,  teasing,  disregards  the  rights  and  property 
of  others,  is  little  moved  by  the  beautiful,  is  ignorant  in  gen- 
eral, and,  therefore,  lacking  in  love  and  reverence.  He  has 
no  sense  of  individual  responsibility  and  is  morally  chaotic. 

"  The  kindergarten  child  has  further  learned  to  direct  him- 
self along  a  specific  line  of  action  whether  it  be  work  or 
control,  in  obedience  to  a  spoken  or  unspoken  law.  He  is, 
in  short,  intelligent,  sensitive,  responsive  and  self-directing 
in  a  far  greater  degree  than  the  other  child.  With  regard 
to  rapidity  of  progress,  I  can  answer  only  in  regard  to  the 
work  in  my  own  grade.  The  kindergarten  child,  as  I  have 
observed  him,  moves  much  more  rapidly  over  the  ground  of 
work  than  another  child  of  equal  ability. 

"  The  character  of  the  work  done  by  kindergarten  chil- 
dren shows  a  great  improvement  over  that  done  by  other 
children.  Their  manual  training  helps  them  to  learn  writing 
and  seat  work  more  quickly.  The  information  they  have 
acquired  in  the  kindergarten  and  the  dexterity  they  have 
gained  enable  them  to  progress  rapidly,  while  at  the  same 
time  their  work  is  better  done.  They  bring  to  their  work  a 
respect  for  it  which  increases  their  sense  both  of  its  dignity 
and  of  their  own  dignity. 

"  Of  great  importance  in  such  a  district  as  ours  is  the 
training  in  understanding  good  English  which  the  kinder- 
garten gives  the  child.  Our  children  who  come  directly 
from  the  homes  are  a  long  time  learning  to  understand  us 


26  KINDERGARTEN    EDUCATION  [58 

when  we  speak  plain  but  good  English.  They  are  also  a 
long  time  learning  to  express  themselves.  In  the  expression 
of  what  has  been  impressed  upon  them,  kindergarten  chil- 
dren are  greatly  in  advance. 

"  The  whole  mental  and  moral  character  of  the  children 
who  have  attended  the  kindergarten  is  much  superior  to  that 
of  the  children  who  come  to  us  directly  from  the  home. 

"  I  have  one  suggestion,  not  a  criticism,  to  make.  A  very 
few  children,  who  have  strong  imagination  and  who  prefer 
to  use  their  imagination  rather  than  their  perception,  are 
likely  to  have  that  tendency  increased  by  the  training  in 
imagination  given  in  the  kindergarten,  so  that  they  have 
difficulty  in  seeing  things  as  they  really  are.  For  example, 
such  children  repeatedly  read  one  word  of  a  sentence  and 
then  recite  a  sentence  totally  unlike  what  is  before  them.  I 
think  that  kindergarten  teachers  do  not  realize  this  as  we  do, 
and  that  in  the  care  of  such  children  they  ought,  perhaps,  to 
lay  more  stress  upon  truth-telling.  This  is  the  only  possible 
fault  I  have  seen  in  a  child  as  a  kindergarten  child,  and  this 
only  in  a  very  few  children. 

"  I  wish  that  all  children  under  six  years  of  age  in  our 
district  were  compelled  to  go  to  the  kindergarten  before 
entering  the  primary  room." 

XII 

"  It  is  my  pleasure,  as  it  is  also  my  dutyj  to  submit  the 
following  answers  to  the  questions  issued  in  the  recent  cir- 
cular with  regard  to  the  effects  of  kindergarten  training 
upon  the  pupils  of  my  own  grade,  the  first  primary. 

"  Five  years  has  been  the  length  of  my  service  in  the  first 
grade. 

"  About  forty  per  cent  of  my  pupils  have  received  instruc- 
tion in  the  kindergarten.  The  children  who  have  had  kin- 
dergarten training  seem  to  possess  greater  enthusiasm  for 
and  interest  in  their  school  work,  and,  therefore,  concentrate 
their  attention  sooner  and  for  a  longer  period  than  those 
from  home. 

**  My  pupils  from  the  kindergarten  have  greater  and  more 
accurate  powers  of  observation  and  discrimination.  This 
fact  is  noticeable  in  their  quick  recognition  of  written  forms 
and  their  associated  sounds. 

"  The  vocabulary  of  the  kindergarten  child  is  larger,  and 
his  power  of  expression,  therefore,  greater.     He  is  less  shy 


59]  KINDERGARTEN    EDUCATION  2/ 

and  timid  and  so  expresses  himself  readily  and  freely.  He 
is  able  from  this  fact  to  take  up  the  regular  language  work 
in  reading  sooner,  and  so  time  is  saved.  The  willingness  to 
narrate  his  experiences  is  so  marked  that  I  have  to  be  care- 
ful that  the  others  have  equal  opportunities  to  express  them- 
selves. This  is  true  particularly  at  the  beginning  of  the 
school  year. 

"  The  experience  gained  in  the  kindergarten  helps  the  child 
to  understand  the  literature  presented  to  him  more  readily 
and  thoroughly. 

"  Generally  the  kindergarten  child  recognizes  numbers  and 
performs  operations  with  them  more  quickly  than  other  chil- 
dren, helped  by  his  former  work  in  weaving  and  other  kin- 
dergarten occupations.  These  latter  also  help  him  to  be 
more  skillful  with  his  hands.  He  can  be  left  at  his  busy 
work  with  less  oversight  and  with  better  results  to  be  seen 
on  inspection.  This  is  a  saving  of  time.  The  manual 
training  which  he  has  received  also  results  in  a  greater  power 
of  expression  in  the  drawing  and  writing  lessons.  The 
terms  used  in  drawing  are  also  more  familiar,  being  recalled 
instead  of  newly  learnt.     Consequently  less  drill  is  needed. 

"The  kindergarten    child   is  more  familiar  with  school 
routine,  and,  therefore,  requires  fewer  directions.     Having 
■  attended  school  before,  the  primary  teacher  is  not  obliged 
to  spend  time  and  energy  in  comforting  him  on  his  separa- 
tion from  home  friends. 

"  Finally,  the  kindergarten  child  seems  to  me  more  cour- 
teous, more  helpful  and  more  ready  to  recognize  the  rights 
of  his  fellow-pupils. 

"  The  kindergarten  pupils  now  in  my  own  grade  have 
been  able  to  accomplish  more  in  the  required  studies  than 
those  of  the  same  age  who  came  directly  from  home.  The 
few  exceptions  occur  in  the  cases  of  children  who  are  not  to 
be  regarded  as  normal. 

*'  Several  children  who  have  received  the  full  kindergarten 
course  have  been  able  to  omit  the  second  year  course  in  the 
primary,  and  have,  therefore,  completed  that  course  in  two 
years  instead  of  the  usual  three  years.  This  does  not  occur 
with  other  children  unless  they  are  unusually  old  when  they 
enter  or  have  special  home  training.  One  child,  who  proved 
too  immature  for  the  work  of  my  grade,  after  a  short  train- 
ing in  the  kindergarten,  was  able  to  do  the  work  better  and 
more  quickly  than  he  could  possibly  have  done  without  it. 


28  KINDERGARTEN    EDUCATION  [6o 

"  That  the  character  of  the  work  has  been  improved,  I 
have  no  doubt.  Since  I  have  always  been  so  fortunate  as  to 
have  some  pupils  from  the  kindergarten,  I  cannot  compare 
the  work  accomplished  with  that  of  pupils,  all  of  whom  came 
direct  from  home.  The  comparison  I  have  made  between 
the  latter  and  kindergarten  children  seems  to  be  just,  and  I 
feel  sure  the  kindergarten  has  helped  to  produce  better 
results  throughout  my  class,  even  when  a  very  small  propor- 
tion of  the  children  in  the  class  had  had  the  benefit  of  its 
training." 

The  following  letter,  also  received  from  Boston,  and  writ- 
ten by  a  teacher  of  third  grade,  shows  that  the  influence  of 
kindergarten  training  extends  beyond  the  primary  room  : 

"In  speaking  of  the  value  of  kindergarten  training  I 
judge  from  observation  and  inference  rather  than  from  a 
close  grade  connection  with  it. 

"  I  have  more  than  once  met  with  such  contrasts  in  the 
moral  attitude  and  mental  atmosphere  of  younger  children 
who  had  been  under  kindergarten  training,  ana  older  ones 
from  the  same  family  who  began  school  life  before  kinder- 
gartens were  established,  that  I  can  attribute  the  source  of 
the  happy  and  healthful  influence  to  but  one  cause.  Indeed, 
it  was  unmistakably  evident  in  several  instances  that  the 
leaven  had  worked  where  it  would  happily  do  so  much  good 
in  the  future  in  raising  the  minds  of  the  parents  to  a  finer 
conception  of  the  duties  and  possibilities  in  training  their 
children.  This  has  come  to  me  more  than  once  from  a  per- 
sonal confession  and  acknowledgment.  An  influence  that 
makes  thus  early  for  the  formation  of  character  surely  can- 
not have  too  high  an  estimate,  especially  from  those  whose 
efforts  must  succeed  it  in  the  work. 

"  I  feel  that  to  the  kindergarten  training  is  due  much  of 
the  possibility  of  developing  in  the  children  the  power  to 
observe,  to  generalize,  to  execute  and  to  express  themselves 
as  intelligently  and  thoughtfully  as  they  were  able  to  do  a 
year  or  two  later  in  school  life,  before  kindergartens  were 
with  us.  In  my  present  class  the  kindergarten  children  are 
all  to  be  promoted  with  one  exception,  and  they  are  ten 
months  younger  than  the  other  children.  Their  average 
age  is  eight  years  and  ten  months,  while  that  of  the  non- 
kindergarten  children  is  nine  years  and  eight  months,  or 
practically  a  year  of  school  life.     I   find  the   difference  is 


6l]  KINDERGARTEN    EDUCATION  29 

about  the  same  in  favor  of  kindergarten  children  for  several 
years  back,  as  far  as  I  examined.  There  seems  to  be  but 
one  influence  as  to  the  cause  for  this,  the  quickening  and 
brightening  influence  of  the  first  training,  coming  at  a  time 
when  the  children  are  awakening  fast  to  the  multitude  of 
influences  and  interests  which  surround  them,  and  which  is 
of  a  character  to  lead  the  little  hearts  and  hands  to  the  best 
they  can  think  and  do." 

The  limits  prescribed  for  this  monograph  prevent  me 
from  doing  full  justice  to  the  valuable  material  sent  me 
from  Boston.  So  far  as  I  am  aware,  no  equal  number  of 
competent  witnesses  reporting  upon  children  received  from 
so  large  a  number  of  kindergartens  have  ever  been  publicly 
cited  in  behalf  of  the  Froebelian  method.  Their  testimony 
proves  beyond  peradventure  that  the  kindergartens  of  Bos- 
ton have  actually  achieved  nearly  all  the  results  claimed  for 
the  system  by  its  most  enthusiastic  friends.  The  following 
letter  from  Mr.  Edwin  P.  Seaver,  superintendent  of  the 
Boston  public  schools,  describes  the  obstacles  with  which 
the  kindergarten  has  still  to  contend  and  suggests  a  plan  by 
which  its  influence  may  be  increased : 

"  My  acquaintance  with  kindergartens  began  in  the  year 
1 88 1,  when,  in  making  my  first  official  visits  in  the  Boston 
schools,  I  found  the  kindergartens  then  privately  supported 
by  Mrs.  Shaw  in  certain  school  rooms  granted  rent  free  for 
that  purpose  by  the  school  committee.  At  first  I  was 
amused  by  the  novel  exercises,  and  then  pleased  by  the  evi- 
dent hold  these  exercises,  or  the  teachers,  or  both,  had  upon 
the  children.  Longer  and  closer  study  of  the  kindergarten 
exercises  convinced  me  that  here  was  a  real  educational 
agency  of  singular  efficiency. 

"  Looking  at  it  from  the  practical  side  I  observed  that 
there  were  some  thousands  of  children  in  Boston  whose 
education  both  morally  and  intellectually  would  be  greatly 
advanced  by  their  being  placed  at  an  early  age  in  good 
kindergartens.  I  thought  too  that  for  all  children  the 
kindergarten  was  the  best  means  of  passage  from  the  home 
to  the  primary  school.  A  knowledge  of  the  spirit  and 
methods  of  the  kindergarten  spread  among  the  primary 
teachers  seemed  likely  to  exercise  a  beneficial  influence  on 


30 


KINDERGARTEN    EDUCATION  [62 


the  primary  schools.  There  was  no  doubt  that  this  same 
benign  influence  had  made  itself  felt  in  many  homes. 
Among  the  strongest  early  friends  of  the  kindergarten  were 
many  parents  whose  children  had  been  kindergarten  pupils. 
There  were  many  primary  teachers  whose  experience  with 
kindergarten  children  enabled  them  to  analyze  and  describe 
the  effects  of  the  kindergarten  system  of  instruction  in  favor- 
able terms. 

"  These  were  some  o.  tne  considerations  which  moved  me 
in  the  year  1888  to  recommend  that  the  kindergarten  be 
made  an  integral  part  of  the  system  of  public  instruction  in 
the  city  of  Boston.  Since  this  was  done,  the  public  kinder- 
gartens have  steadily  grown  in  number  and  in  popularity,  in 
so  much  that  nearly  all  school  districts  in  the  city  are  sup- 
plied with  them,  and  about  one-third  of  the  children  now 
pass  through  them  before  entering  the  primary  schools. 
Our  primary  teachers  have  become  more  and  more  appre- 
ciative of  the  excellent  foundation  the  kindergarten  gives 
for  the  child's  subsequent  instruction.  Altogether,  it  may 
truly  be  said  that  the  public  kindergartens  of  Boston  have 
fulfilled,  and  more  than  fulfilled,  the  expectations  formed  of 
them  at  the  time  of  their  adoption.  Imperfections  they 
have  shown,  as  what  schools  or  what  things  human  do  not  ? 
But  every  year  there  have  been  improvements,  every  year  a 
better  understanding  of  the  essential  principles  of  kinder- 
garten instruction,  and  every  year  a  more  widespread  knowl- 
edge of  the  practical  benefit  of  these  principles  when  prop- 
erly applied. 

"  As  to  the  subsequent  progress  01  Kindergarten  children 
in  the  school  grades,  it  has  been  impossible  for  me  to  arrange 
and  properly  carry  out  a  thorough  statistical  inquiry.  I  can 
only  say  in  general  that  my  impressions,  gathered  from  con- 
versations with  teachers  these  many  years,  lead  me  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  progress  of  kindergarten  children  com- 
pares very  favorably  with  that  of  other  children  of  the  same 
age  and  similar  environment.  This  progress  is  not  so  much 
manifested  by  quicker  passage  from  grade  to  grade  in  the 
schools  —  for  there  is  much  that  is  arbitrary  and  artificial  in 
the  rules  governing  the  promotion  of  pupils  through  the 
grades  —  as  it  is  in  the  broader  and  stronger  work  done  by 
children  whose  education  has  been  started  aright  in  the 
kindergarten. 

'•  Another  influence  which  obscures  the  result  in  statistical 


63]  KINDERGARTEN    EDUCATION  3 1 

inquiry  arises  from  the  fact  that  the  tests  applied  to  deter- 
mine progress  are  often  quite  out  of  harmony  with  that 
theory  of  education  of  which  the  kindergarten  is  an  exem- 
plification. The  principles  worked  out  by  Froebel  in  the 
kindergarten  were  also  by  him  applied  to  the  later  education 
of  children  and  youth.  Therefore,  the  subsequent  progress 
of  kindergarten  children  ought  to  be  tested  by  methods 
which  are  consistent  with  those  principles. 

"  Still  another  obstacle  in  the  way  of  satisfactory  statistical 
work  is  the  fact  that  in  very  many  of  the  classes  of  the  first 
primary  grade  only  a  minority  of  the  children  are  from  kin- 
dergartens. The  teacher  is  apt  to  adapt  her  methods  to  the 
wants  of  the  majority.  So  it  happens  that  the  kindergarten 
children  suffer  from  a  change  in  the  method  of  their  instruc- 
tion. What  was  so  well  begun  in  the  kindergarten  is 
broken  off,  and,  consequently,  the  results  that  might  other- 
wise have  been  expected  never  appear.  Notwithstanding 
all  these  difficulties  it  has  been  possible  in  Boston  to  organ- 
ize a  few  primary  classes,  composed  wholly,  or  almost  wholly, 
of  kindergarten  children.  The  progress  made  by  such 
classes  has  been  eminently  satisfactory.  This  result  seems 
to  warrant  the  belief  that  if  all  children  could  be  taken 
through  the  kindergarten  before  entering  the  primary  schools 
the  instruction  in  the  latter  would  be  advanced  and  enlarged 
to  a  degree  not  now  possible." 

Much  of  the  information  received  from  other  cities  I  omit 
because  it  does  not  relate  to  experiences  with  a  sufficiently 
large  number  of  children.  I  have,  however,  condensed  the 
following  results  from  letters  sent  me  by  Miss  Mary  C. 
McCulloch,  supervisor  of  the  St.  Louis  kindergartens.  These 
letters,  thirteen  in  number,  were  written  by  teachers  of  the 
first  grade,  and  reported  the  progress  of  kindergarten  chil- 
dren in  each  of  the  several  districts  of  the  city.  Two  of  the 
letters  I  eliminated  because,  while  kindly  in  feeling,  they 
were  not  precise  in  statement.  Of  the  remaining  eleven  let- 
ters nine  reported  that  kindergarten  children  were  proficient 
in  arithmetic,  and  affirmed  the  conviction  that  the  training 
of  the  kindergarten  facilitated  progress  in  learning  to  write, 
and  was  of  marked  value  in  learning  to  read.  The  other 
two  recognized  no  difference  in  these  respects  between  kin- 


32  KINDERGARTEN    EDUCATION  [64 

dergarten  children  and  children  who  came  to  school  direct 
from  the  home.  The  unanimous  verdict  was  that  kinder- 
garten children  were  superior  to  others  in  drawing.  All  the 
letters  concurred  likewise  in  the  statement  that  kindergarten 
culture  developed  the  aesthetic  sense.  The  intellectual 
characteristics  specified  were  accurate  observations  ;  correct 
expression ;  power  to  make  numerical  combinations  ;  famili- 
arity with  geometric  forms  ;  quick  recognition  of  magnitude 
and  relation ;  a  generally  increased  perceptive  power,  and 
signal  ability  in  illustrating  poems  and  stories.  With  regard 
to  manners  and  morals  nine  teachers  recognized  the  good 
influence  of  the  kindergarten.  Of  the  remaining  two  one 
found  "  few  causes  for  complaint,"  and  the  other  referred 
merely  to  a  possible  good  effect  upon  order  and  punctuality. 
The  moral  characteristics  which  were  said  to  distinguish 
kindergarten  children  were  order,  cleanliness,  courtesy,  con- 
sideration, kindness,  a  perceptible  development  of  the  ideal 
of  social  dependence  and  "  a  love  for  the  beautiful  in  char- 
acter awakened  by  fairy  tales  and  developed  along  the  lines 
of  self-abnegation  through  song,  stories,  games  and  daily 
practice." 

From  Mrs.  Alice  H.  Putnam,  to  whose  labors  is  largely 
due  the  adoption  of  the  kindergarten  by  the  school  board 
of  Chicago,  I  have  received  the  following  valuable  testi- 
mony of  superintendents  and  principals  of  schools : 

From  Dr.  E.  Benj.  Andrews,  superintendent  of  schools : 
'*  Our  best  first  grade  pupils  are  from  the  kindergarten, 
and  the  influence  of  kindergarten  teaching  is  more  and  more 
felt  in  all  the  grades.  Its  ethical  and  social  value  is  equal 
to  its  intellectual  value.  In  fact  the  kindergarten  is  now 
recognized  by  all  thoughtful  persons  as  one  of  society's  main 
hopes  for  the  future." 

From  Albert  G.  Lane,  Esq.,  district  superintendent : 
"  It  has  been  noticeable  that  children  well  trained  in  the 
kindergarten  have  keen  sense-perception,  possess  construct- 
ive and  expressive  power  and  are  alert,  active  and  open- 
minded." 


65]  KINDERGARTEN    EDUCATION  33 

From  James  Hannan,  Esq.,  assistant  superintendent : 
"  The  most  positive  friends  of  the  kindergarten  are  those 
who  know  it  best.  No  principal  who  has  had  one  in  his 
school  is  willing  to  do  without  it.  We  have  had  several 
cases  where  the  principal  of  an  old  school  has  been  trans- 
ferred to  a  new  one  and  in  every  such  case  there  has  been 
urgent  demand  for  the  establishment  of  a  kindergarten  in 
the  new  school." 

From  Mr.  Lincoln  P.  Goodhue  of  the  D.  S.  Wentworth 
school : 

"  The  kindergarten-trained  child  is  more  responsive  in 
early  primary  work,  has  greater  freedom  of  thought  and 
expression,  better  and  more  definite  control  of  motor  activi- 
ties and  many  well-established  useful  habits  not  usually 
found  in  the  ordinary  beginner. 

"  During  the  first  year  many  of  the  kindergarten  children 
take  first  rank  in  their  rooms,  although  some  fall  into  the 
lower  classes,  even  into  the  C  class.  It  is  seldom,  however, 
that  a  kindergarten  child  is  found  overtime  in  grade.  In 
the  second  year  and  above  opportunity  for  the  observation 
of  the  kindergarten  child  in  this  school  has  been  quite  lim- 
ited, and  I  am  unable  to  submit  any  definite  statement. 

"That  the  average  child  is  helped  very  materially  by  the 
kindergarten  course  must  be  admitted.  That  the  children 
of  the  poor  are  led  into  habits  of  thought  and  conduct  which 
their  home  environment  could  never  develop  is  also  true. 

"  The  dull  child,  while  he  may  still  be  dull,  must  be  quick- 
ened more  or  less  by  kindergarten  training  well  done.  The 
whole  question  as  to  the  value  of  the  kindergarten  can  be 
answered  only  when  the  other  question  as  to  the  training 
and  qualifications  of  the  kindergarten  teachers  has  been 
positively  settled.  It  is  more  true  in  the  kindergarten  per- 
haps than  in  the  grades  that  the  teacher  makes  the  school." 

From  Miss  Minnie  R.  Cowan,  principal  of  the  McAllister 
school : 

"  In  the  following  respects  we  find  the  pupils  who  have 
had  kindergarten  training  very  superior  to  children  who 
come  directly  from  the  home, —  power  of  observing  closely 
and  accurately  and  ability  to  express  their  thoughts  readily 
and  clearly. 


34  KINDERGARTEN    EDUCATION  [66 

"  They  have  also  a  considerable  degree  of  manual  skill, 
and  in  the  first  year  of  school  life  especially  this  is  a  great 
aid  to  their  progress. 

"  I  have  not  found  that  they  ordinarily  gain  any  time  in 
the  grades,  but  they  do  the  work  of  the  grades  more  easily 
and  perfectly." 

From  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Huntington  Sutherland,  principal  of 
the  Alice  E.  Barnard  school : 

"  Having  been  seventeen  years  in  this  school,  I  have  had 
many  large  families  begin  and  complete  their  work  with  me. 

"  The  older  three  or  four  children  of  said  families  were  in 
school  before  our  kindergarten  was  established  ;  the  younger 
three  or  four  since.  Invariably  there  is  a  marked  contrast 
in  the  ability  of  the  two  groups.  The  younger  ones  are 
brighter  in  every  way,  and  often  seem  hardly  to  belong  to 
the  same  stock.  Much  of  this  difference  I  believe  to  be  due 
to  the  early  wholesome  awakening  brought  about  by  the 
training  in  the  kindergarten." 

From  Mr.  Fulton  B.  Ormsby,  principal  of  the  Perkins 
Bass  school : 

"  My  observations  thus  far  convince  me  that  the  kinder- 
garten is  a  distinct  and  positive  help  to  the  future  progress 
of  the  child. 

"  The  motor  activities  are  so  developed  that  the  various 
occupations  of  the  school  room  are  taken  up  with  skill  and 
readiness,  and  the  powers  of  observation  so  aroused  that  the 
more  formal  instruction,  if  desired,  may  be  undertaken  at 
once  with  success. 

"In  our  school,  the  children  who  have  had  the  kinder- 
garten training  are  advancing  more  satisfactorily  than  those 
who  lack  such  training." 

From  Mr.  Samuel  A.  Harrison,  principal  of  the  Burroughs 
school : 

"  The  observations  of  myself  and  teachers  are  that  pupils 
coming  from  the  kindergarten  : 

'*  I.  Know  better  how  to  handle  themselves.  They  have 
been  trained  to  control  their  attention,  and  can  begin  school 
work  at  once. 

"  2.  They  have  gained  some  little  learning  in  singing  and 
numbers. 


^7]  KINDERGARTEN    EDUCATION  35 

"  3.  They  are  cleaner,  neater  and  better  mannered,  and 
their  training  shows  to  advantage  in  all  school  proprieties." 

From  Mr.  Frank  A.  Houghton,  principal  of  the  Kershaw 
school : 

"  The  kindergarten  has  a  most  excellent  influence  on  the 
primary  grades.  I  feel  its  influence  on  the  work  of  the  first 
grade  especially." 

Miss  Ida  De  La  Mater,  extra  teacher,  who  supervises  the 
primary  work  of  the  Kershaw  school,  adds : 

"  I  have  found  that  the  kindergarten  children  lack  concen- 
tration, self-control,  and  are  hard  to  discipline. 

"  In  the  games,  story  work,  language  and  general  informa- 
tion, they  are  better  than  other  children.  I  am  in  hearty 
sympathy  with  the  work." 

From  Mr.  Charles  F.  Babcock,  principal  of  the  H olden 
school : 

"  The  children  who  have  been  in  the  kindergarten  classes 
are  noted  for  their  powers  of  observation  and  expression, 
fluency  in  language,  etc.  They  are  vastly  superior  to  those 
who  have  not  had  this  training.  The  only  objection  to 
them  is  that  they  develop  into  regular  chatterboxes,  and  it 
takes  some  time  to  tone  them  down.  We  have  the  kinder- 
garten and  non-kindergarten  classes  together  and  can  speak 
of  them  better  for  so  doing." 

From  Mr.  Daniel  Appleton  White,  principal  of  the 
Everett   school : 

"  I  have  carefully  revised  the  records  of  this  school  in 
regard  to  the  progress  of  kindergarten  children.  By  com- 
paring the  progress  of  several  hundreds  of  children  who  are 
at  present  members  of  this  school,  I  obtain  the  following 
statistics : 

"  Of  one  hundred  promotions  from  first  to  second  grade,  I 
find  that  the  children  who  have  had  the  kindergarten  work 
required  an  average  time  of  thirty-seven  and  one-half  weeks 
for  the  completion  of  the  grade  work,  while  the  others 
required  forty-four  and  one-third  weeks  for  the  same.  For 
the  second  grade  the  respective  results  are  forty-five  and 
one-tenth  weeks  and  forty-four  and  eight-tenths  weeks.  For 
the  third  grade  forty-three  and  seven-tenths  weeks  and  forty- 


36  KINDERGARTEN    EDUCATION  [68 

six  weeks,  while  for  the  fourth  grade  the  average  time 
required  was  thirty-three  weeks  and  forty-four  and  four- 
tenths  weeks. 

"  In  addition  to  these  facts  I  cheerfully  submit  my  opinion 
of  the  advantages  of  the  kindergarten  training  so  far  as  I 
have  observed  them.  In  my  judgment  *  *  *  ^j^g  ^]^-^\_ 
dren  gain  exceedingly  in  regard  to  the  following  points  : 

"  The  formation  of  good  habits,  the  development  of  free- 
dom and  activity,  the  power  to  understand  directions,  the 
social  element,  and  last,  but  not  the  least,  the  attention  paid 
to  cleanliness." 

Since  the  kindergarten  system  has  been  more  highly 
developed  in  Boston,  Chicago  and  St.  Louis  than  in  other 
places,  testimony  from  these  cities  has  seemed  to  me  of  the 
highest  importance.  Similar  results  are,  however,  showing 
themselves  in  many  smaller  cities  and  towns,  in  witness 
whereof  I  permit  myself  to  quote  the  following  published 
statements  • 

I 

**  Having  often  been  asked  if  there  is  any  difference  in 
the  ages  of  those  children  in  the  several  grades  who  have 
had  kindergarten  training  and  those  who  have  not  been  so 
fortunate,  I  have  this  year  taken  some  pains  to  see  if  there 
is  really  any  difference.  I  find  that  the  age  of  the  kinder- 
garten trained  children  in  every  grade  is  actually  less  than 
that  of  the  remainder  of  the  class  by  a  few  months  until  the 
eighth  grade  is  reached,  where  the  difference  is  ten  months, 
or  one  whole  school  year.  At  first  this  does  not  seem  very 
much,  but  a  year  at  school  is  a  great  factor  in  the  life  of  any 
student."  (Olive  McHenry,  principal  of  Hawthorne  school, 
Des  Moines,  Iowa.  Published  in  report  of  city  superintend- 
ent of  schools  for  1893-94.) 

II 

"  Referring  to  our  kindergartens  and  schools  as  we  see 
them  in  New  England,  what  is  the  opinion  of  the  most  intel- 
ligent primary  teachers  to-day  concerning  what  the  kinder- 
garten does  ?  Being  very  familiar  with  this  matter  in  a 
town  where  eleven  kindergartens,  having  some  nineteen 
teachers,  are  feeding  the  primary  schools,  it  is  a  pleasure  to 
say  that  there  is  unanimous  agreement  on  the  part  of  all  the 


69]  KINDERGARTEN    EDUCATION  37 

primary  teachers  that  the  children  receive  incalculable 
benefit  through  their  kindergarten  training,  and  are  far  bet- 
ter prepared  to  take  up  the  activities  of  the  school  because 
of  that  training. 

"  Many  of  these  teachers  are  well  advanced  in  life,  and 
had  long  experience  before  the  kindergarten  was  adopted  in 
the  town.  They  have  not  been  hasty  in  making  up  their 
minds ;  on  the  other  hand,  they  have  no  doubt  been  slow  in 
doing  so.  They  find  the  kindergarten  children  coming  to 
them  full  of  anticipation  of  what  they  are  to  enjoy,  and 
they  are  slow  to  adopt  any  measure  that  tends  to  dampen 
this  enthusiasm.  They  find  them  active  and  needing  activ- 
ity. They  are  quick  to  see,  curious  to  ask  questions,  and 
anxious  to  co-operate  in  everything  pertaining  to  the  school. 
And  it  is  delightful  to  note  that  the  same  methods  which 
make  the  kindergarten  a  highly  socialized  community  where 
there  is  much  mutual  sympathy,  and  co-operation  operate 
also  in  the  school  so  that  it  becomes  something  quite  different 
from  the  school  of  other  days  when  children  were  treated  as 
little  men  and  women  and  when  the  aim  of  the  teacher  was 
to  have  as  little  stir  and  activity  as  possible,  doing  violence 
to  the  nature  of  the  child  and  often  crippling  him  for  life. 

"  The  time  has  come  when  we  may  safely  claim  that  the 
kindergarten  with  all  that  it  has  brought  to  the  school  of 
spirit  and  method  gives  enlarged  capacity  to  do  work  of  all 
kinds  and  its  beneficent  influence  is  felt  not  only  in  all  grades 
of  schools  but  in  college  and  in  after  life."  (Samuel  T. 
Dutton,  Superintendent  of  Schools,  Brookline,  Mass.,  in 
Kindergarten  Magazine  for  April,  1899.) 

In  view  of  the  attacks  so  freely  and  insistently  made  upon 
what  is  called  the  "  sentimentalism  "  of  the  kindergarten,  it 
may  be  well  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  none  of  the 
expert  witnesses  whose  testimony  I  have  quoted  seem  to  have 
detected  its  existence.  That  among  kindergartners  there 
are  some  sentimentalists  I  have  no  doubt.  That  sentimen- 
talism is  inherent  in  the  Froebelian  ideal  or  tolerated  in  the 
best  training  schools  for  kindergartners  I  unhesitatingly 
deny.  There  is  greater  danger  of  its  appearance  in  private 
than  in  public  work  because  any  person  calling  herself  a 
kindergartner   may   be  accepted   as   such   by    ignorant   or 


38  KINDERGARTEN    EDUCATION  [70 

thoughtless  parents.     In  public  kindergartens  under  compe- 
tent supervision  its  persistence  is  impossible. 

It  is  greatly  to  be  desired  that  all  cities  establishing  kin- 
dergartens in  connection  with  their  public  schools,  should 
insist  upon  having  a  specially  qualified  supervisor.  With- 
out watchful  and  intelligent  guidance  the  kindergarten  tends 
either  to  relapse  into  a  mere  play  school  or  to  become  too 
closely  conformed  to  the  primary  school.  The  ideal  super- 
visor stands  to  the  individual  kindergartener  in  a  relation 
similar  to  that  which  the  latter  occupies  towards  her  children. 
She  quickens  their  intellectual  and  moral  aspiration,  deepens 
in  them  the  complementary  impulses  of  self-culture  and  child- 
nurture,  points  out  practical  errors  and  suggests  the  ways 
and  means  of  overcoming  them.  She  must  thoroughly  under- 
stand the  method  of  the  kindergarten,  its  psycologic  implica- 
tions and  its  relationship  to  education  as  a  whole.  She  must 
unite  intellectual  insight  with  moral  earnestness  and  practi- 
cal sagacity.  Hence  only  the  most  gifted  and  illuminated 
kindergartners  are  adequate  to  the  work  of  supervision. 

Two  great  dangers  assail  the  kindergarten  and  threaten 
to  impede  its  progress  towards  the  realization  of  Froebel's 
ideal.  The  first  of  these  dangers  is  reversion  to  instinctive 
games  and  traditional  toys.  In  some  kindergartens,  children 
are  taught  to  play  street  games,  while  it  has  recently  been 
urged  that  "  peg  boards,  tops,  bean  bags,  kites,  dolls,  jack- 
straws,  hoops,  spool,  chalk  and  wire  games  and  the  whole 
toy  world  "  should  be  added  to  the  Froebelian  instrumentali- 
ties. Tendencies  such  as  these  indicate  a  complete  failure 
to  comprehend  what  Froebel  has  done.  He  recognized  in 
traditional  games  the  deposit  of  unconscious  reason ;  pre- 
served what  was  good  and  omitted  what  was  crude  and 
coarse  in  these  products  of  instinct ;  supplied  missing  links 
and  presented  a  series  of  games  wherein  each  is  related  to 
all  the  others  and  which,  by  means  of  dramatic  and  graphic 
representation,  poetry  and  music,  win  for  the  ideals  they 
embody  a  controlling  power  over  the  imagination.  In  like 
manner,  from  among  traditional  toys  he  selected  those  which 


7l]  KINDERGARTEN    EDUCATION  39 

possessed  most  educative  value,  ordered  them  into  a  related 
series  and  suggested  a  method  by  which  they  might  be  con- 
sciously used  to  interpret  the  child's  experiences  and  develop 
his  creative  power.  If  this  transfiguration  of  traditional 
games  and  toys  is  valueless,  then  the  kindergarten  has  no 
raison  d^etre.  But  if  Froebel  has  translated  the  hieroglyphic 
of  instinctive  play  and  found  means  which,  without  detriment 
to  the  child's  spontaneity,  influence  the  growth  of  character 
and  the  trend  of  thought,  then  the  clamor  for  street  games 
and  promiscuous  toys  is  educational  atavism. 

The  second  danger  which  threatens  the  integrity  of  the 
kindergarten  is  the  substitution  of  exercises  which  attempt 
to  wind  thought  around  some  arbitrarily  chosen  center  for 
those  Froebelian  exercises  whose  confessed  aim  is  to  assist 
thought  to  unwind  itself.  Too  many  kindergartners  have 
allowed  themselves  to  be  betrayed  into  selecting  some  object 
such  as  a  pine  tree  or  a  potato,  and  making  all  songs,  games, 
stories  and  gift  exercises  revolve  around  it.  Between  these 
so-called  cores  of  interest  and  the  exercises  clustered  around 
them  there  is  no  valid  connection.  The  clustering  like  the 
subject  depends  wholly  upon  the  caprice  of  the  teacher. 
Could  such  exercises  succeed  in  their  object,  the  pupils  of 
different  teachers  would  have  their  thoughts  set  to  revolving 
around  different  centers  and  more  than  this  around  arbitrary 
and  contingent  centers.  That  such  a  procedure  directly 
contradicts  Froebel's  ideal  will  be  apparent  to  all  who  have 
understood  his  writings.  That  it  likewise  contradicts  every 
true  ideal  of  education  will  be  evident  to  all  who  understand 
that  the  function  of  education  is  to  substitute  objective  and 
universal  for  subjective  and  contingent  associations.  The 
discovery  of  related  qualities  in  nature,  the  disclosure  of 
their  causes  and  the  reduction  of  these  causes  to  a  system  is 
the  great  work  of  science.  The  discovery  of  the  related 
activities  of  mind  and  their  genetic  evolution  is  the  work  of 
psychology.  The  portrayal  of  the  universal  and  divine  man 
latent  in  each  individual  is  the  supreme  achievement  of 
literature  and  art.     To  lead  pupils  away  from  what  is  capri- 


40  KINDERGARTEN    EDUCATION  [72 

cious,  arbitrary  and  accidental,  and  thus  capacitate  them  to 
receive  and  augment  their  scientific,  aesthetic,  literary  and 
psychologic  inheritance  is  the  great  duty  of  education.  The 
substitution  of  arbitrary  for  necessary  cores  of  thought 
wherever  attempted  is,  therefore,  the  parody  of  education. 

The  future  of  the  kindergarten  in  the  United  States  is 
largely  dependent  upon  the  work  of  the  normal  schools  for 
kindergarteners.  The  friends  of  the  system  must,  therefore, 
view  with  disapprobation  and  even  with  dismay  the  rapid  mul- 
tiplication of  schools  with  low  standards  of  admission  and  a 
low  conception  of  the  training  they  should  give.  Inexperi- 
enced students  are  attracted  to  such  schools,  and  the  result  is 
that  the  whole  country  is  flooded  with  so-called  kindergartners 
who  are  ignorant  of  the  first  principles  of  all  true  education. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  Froebelian  movement  it  was 
believed  that  in  a  single  year  young  girls  could  be  prepared 
to  conduct  a  kindergarten.  In  most  reputable  training 
schools  the  course  has  now  been  extended  to  cover  two  years. 
The  requirements  for  admission  into  these  schools  are,  gen- 
erally, graduation  from  a  high  school,  or  an  education  equiva- 
lent thereto.  The  courses  of  study  include  theory  of  the 
kindergarten  gifts  and  occupations,  study  of  the  Mother  Play, 
practice  in  songs  and  games,  physical  culture,  lessons  in  sing- 
ing, drawing,  modeling  and  color,  lectures  on  the  art  of  story 
telling,  and  more  or  less  observation  of  the  practical  work 
of  the  kindergarten.  Finally,  some  trainers  insist  that  their 
normal  pupils  shall  not  only  observe  but  assist  in  actual  work 
with  the  children. 

In  addition  to  this  specific  training,  the  best  normal  schools 
offer  courses  in  science,  literature,  psychology,  and  the  his- 
tory of  education. 

Prominent  among  private  training  schools  are  those  of 
Miss  Garland,  Miss  Symonds,  Miss  Wheelock  and  Miss 
Page  in  Boston ;  that  of  Mme.  Kraus-Boelte  in  New  York ; 
that  conducted  by  Miss  H.  A.  Niel  in  Washington,  in  con- 
nection with  the  work  established  and  sustained  by  Mrs. 
Phoebe  A.  Hearst,  and  that  of  the  Kindergarten  institute  of 


73]  KINDERGARTEN    EDUCATION  4 1 

Chicago,  which  is  co-operative  with  the  social  settlement 
work  in  that  city.  Conspicuous  among  normal  departments 
conducted  under  the  auspices  of  kindergarten  associations, 
is  the  training  school  of  Miss  C.  M.  C.  Hart  in  Baltimore, 
which,  in  addition  to  a  two  years'  course  for  kindergartners, 
offers  a  fine  post-graduate  course,  and  a  course  preparatory 
for  normal  work.  Other  training  schools  connected  with 
kindergarten  associations  are  the  normal  departments  of  the 
Froebel  association,  and  the  Free  kindergarten  association 
of  Chicago,  and  the  training  schools  conducted  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Louisville  and  Golden  Gate  associations. 

Kindergarten  departments  have  been  established  in  sev- 
eral great  ^^^^^^-public  institutions.  Among  the  most  nota- 
ble of  these  are  the  kindergarten  department  of  Pratt  insti- 
tute, Brooklyn,  and  of  Teachers  college,  Columbia  univer- 
sity, and  of  Workingman's  institute.  New  York. 

Of  the  164  public  normal  schools  in  the  United  States  36 
provide  some  kind  of  kindergarten  training,  the  courses 
varying  in  length  from  about  two  years  to  six  months. 
These  kindergarten  departments  are  distributed  as  follows  in 
the  normal  schools  of  the  different  states : 

New  York,  7  IlHnois,  i 

Michigan,  5  Colorado,  i 

Pennsylvania,  4  ^  Kansas,  i 

California,  4  Rhode  Island,  I 

Massachusetts,  3  Georgia,  i 

New  Jersey,  2  Nebraska,  i 

Connecticut,  2  Ohio,  i 

Wisconsin,  2  Minnesota,  i 

The  public  normal  schools  whose  kindergartens  are  most 
worthy  of  mention  are  those  of  Boston  and  Philadelphia. 
In  general,  however,  the  kindergarten  work  in  public  normal 
schools  is  inferior  to  that  of  private  training  schools,  kinder- 
garten associations  and  the  great  institutions  to  which  refer- 
ence has  been  made  above. 

Kindergartners  are  admitted  to  surpass  all  other  teachers 
as  students  of  educational  literature.     They  are  also  distin- 


42  KINDERGARTEN    EDUCATION  [74 

guishing  themselves  by  zealous  and  persistent  attendance 
upon  post-graduate  courses  in  pedagogics,  science,  literature, 
history  and  psychology.  Between  the  years  1880  and  1888 
large  numbers  of  St.  Louis  kindergartners  participated  in 
classes  organized  during  successive  winters  for  the  study  of 
Herodotus,  Thucydides,  Sophocles,  Homer,  Dante  and 
Goethe.  They  also  followed  lecture  courses  in  psychology 
and  philosophy,  and  constantly  attended  classes  devoted  to 
the  deeper  study  of  Froebel's  educational  principles  and  the 
illustration  of  his  method.  Through  the  efforts  of  the  Chi- 
cago kindergarten  college  post-graduate  work  of  a  high  order 
has  become  a  feature  of  Froebelian  activity  in  that  city,  and 
for  many  years  there  has  been  conducted  each  winter  a  liter- 
ary school  whose  lecturers  are  recognized  as  the  greatest 
interpreters  in  America  of  the  supreme  works  of  literature. 
During  successive  winters  Miss  Laura  Fisher,  director  of  the 
public  school  kindergartens  of  Boston,  has  organized  post- 
graduate classes  in  the  study  of  the  Mother  Play  and  the 
Pedagogics  of  the  Kindergarten  and  has  also  conducted  valu- 
able courses  in  literature  and  psychology.  Through  the 
efforts  of  Miss  C.  P.  Dozier,  supervisor  of  the  New  York 
kindergarten  association,  and  Miss  Mary  D.  Runyan,  head  of 
the  kindergarten  department  of  Teachers  college,  Columbia 
university,  post-graduate  work  has  been  organized  in  New 
York  city.  Classes  in  psychology,  literature  and  the  phil- 
osophy of  history  are  conducted  by  Miss  Hart  in  Baltimore, 
and  courses  in  literature  and  psychology  are  already  given 
in  connection  with  the  young  but  flourishing  work  of  Miss 
Niel  in  Washington.  In  Philadelphia,  Pittsburg,  Buffalo 
and  other  cities  post-graduate  work  is  less  developed,  but 
good  beginnings  have  been  made. 

The  power  of  the  kindergarten  over  the  minds  of  its  stu- 
dents arises  from  the  fact  that  it  connects  the  ideal  of  self- 
culture  with  the  ideal  of  child-nurture.  The  true  woman 
does  not  wish  to  "  deck  herself  with  knowledge  as  with  a  gar- 
ment, or  to  wear  it  loose  from  the  nerves  and  blood  that 
feed  her  action."     Therefore,  she  responds  with  whole  heart 


75]  KINDERGARTEN    EDUCATION  43 

to  the  appeal  to  learn  all  she  can,  be  all  she  can,  and  devote 
all  she  is  and  all  she  knows  to  the  service  of  childhood. 

Rooted  in  maternal  impulses  it  would  be  strange  indeed  if 
the  kindergarten  did  not  appeal  to  mothers.  That  classes 
for  mothers  should  come  into  existence  was  a  predestined 
phase  of  the  Froebelian  movement.  Whoever  has  studied 
the  writings  of  Froebel  knows  that  the  education  of  mothers 
was  one  of  the  most  important  features  of  his  endeavor. 
Practically,  however,  the  work  in  this  direction  amounted  to 
very  little  until  a  mothers'  department  was  established  in 
that  unique  institution,  the  Chicago  kindergarten  college.  I 
call  this  institution  unique  because  it  has  consciously 
attempted  the  transformation  of  the  girls'  college  into  a  school 
for  motherhood.  The  colleges  for  men  offer  many  different 
courses.  Why  should  not  the  colleges  for  women  offer  at 
least  elective  courses  in  subjects  fitting  their  students  for 
the  vocation  of  mother  and  home  maker  ?  Why  should  not 
the  study  of  Froebel's  Mother  Play,  the  use  of  kindergarten 
gifts  and  the  practice  of  kindergarten  games  be  made  one  of 
these  elective  courses?  Why  should  not  all  institutions 
which  ignore  the  mission  of  woman  as  nurturer  be  supplanted 
by  institutions  like  the  Chicago  kindergarten  college,  which, 
while  giving  general  culture,  make  it  their  supreme  aim  to 
fit  women  for  the  work,  which,  if  there  be  any  meaning  in 
the  process  of  natural  evolution,  is  theirs  by  divine  appoint- 
ment ?  And,  finally,  why  should  not  such  institutions  give 
instruction  not  only  to  young  girls  but  to  mothers  themselves  ? 
During  the  single  year  1891-92  the  mothers'  department  of 
the  Chicago  college  gave  instruction  to  725  mothers.  In  the 
eight  years  since  its  foundation  it  has  given  whole  or  partial 
courses  to  nearly  five  thousand  mothers.  The  effects  of  such 
instruction  in  enhancing  the  sanctity  and  uplifting  the  ideals 
of  family  life  can  hardly  be  exaggerated.  Recently  the  work 
of  this  department  has  been  extended  by  holding  convoca- 
tions for  the  discussion  of  all  phases  of  child-nurture.  Four 
of  such  convocations  have  already  been  held,  each  of  which 
had  nine  sessions  of  from  two  to  two  and  one-half  hours  in 


44  KINDERGARTEN    EDUCATION  [76 

length.  The  attendance  was  from  three  to  five  thousand 
persons. 

While  the  maternal  ideal  is  dominant  in  the  Chicago  col- 
lege it  is  not  exclusive.  This  organization  supports  a  number 
of  kindergartens  wherein  students  learn  to  apply  Froebelian 
principles.  It  has  departments  for  kindergartners,  kinder- 
garten trainers  and  primary  teachers.  It  has  also  depart- 
ments of  literature  and  publication  and  a  philanthropic 
department,  these  several  departments  being  all  in  the  hands 
of  competent  specialists.  Finally,  it  has  developed  and 
extended  the  literary  and  historic  courses  begun  in  St.  Louis 
and  by  adding  courses  in  science  and  art  has  connected  the 
kindergarten  with  the  total  round  of  man's  spiritual  activity. 

Radiating  from  the  kindergarten  college  as  its  center  the 
maternal  movement  is  spreading  throughout  the  United 
States.  It  is  the  highest  reach  of  the  Froebelian  ideal  and 
means  nothing  more  nor  less  than  the  attempted  regenera- 
tion of  all  human  life  through  the  regeneration  of  the  family. 

Froebel's  supreme  claim  to  our  grateful  remembrance  rests 
upon  the  fact  that  consciously  repeating  the  unconscious 
process  of  social  evolution  he  set  the  little  child  in  front  of 
the  great  army  of  advancing  humanity.  Science  affirms 
that  the  feebleness  of  infancy  created  the  family  and  that 
from  the  family  have  been  evolved  the  higher  institutions. 
"  Without  the  circumstances  of  infancy,"  writes  one  of  our  lead- 
ing scientists,'  "we  might  have  become  formidable  through 
sheer  force  of  sharpwittedness.  But  except  for  these  cir- 
cumstances we  should  never  have  comprehended  the  mean- 
ing of  such  phrases  as  self-sacrifice  or  devotion.  The  phe- 
nomena of  social  life  would  have  been  omitted  from  the  his- 
tory of  the  world  and  with  them  the  phenomena  of  ethics 
and  religion."  In  his  cry,  *'  Come,  let  us  live  for  the  chil- 
dren," Froebel  utters  in  articulate  speech  the  ideal  whose 
unconscious  impulsion  set  in  motion  the  drama  of  human 
history.  The  little  child  was  pioneer  of  the  process  which 
created  human  institutions.  We  must  make  him  the  pioneer 
of  their  perfection. 

'  Cosmic  Philosophy,  John  Fiske,  II:  363. 


Department   of  Education 

FOR  THE 

United    States    Commission    to    the    Paris    Exposition    of   1900 


MONOGRAPHS    ON     EDUCATION 


UNITKD      STATERS 

edited  by 

NICHOLAS  MURRAY  BUTLER 
Professor  of  Philosophy  and  Education  in  Columbia  University,  New  York 


ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION 


WILLIAM  T.  HARRIS 
United  States  Commissioner  of  Education,  Washington,  D.  C. 


This  Monograph  is  contributed  to  the  United  States  Educational  Exhibit  by  ths 

State  of  New  York. 


ELEMENTARY  EDUCATION 


PART  I GENERAL  SURVEY  OF  THE  SCHOOL  SYSTEM  OF  THE 

UNITED  STATES 

In  all  the  schools  of  the  United  States,  public  and  private, 
elementary,  secondary  and  higher,  there  were  enrolled  in  the 
year  1898  about  sixteen  and  one-half  millions  (16,687,643) 
pupils.  (Sec  appendix  I.)  This  number  includes  all  who 
attended  at  any  time  in  the  year  for  any  period,  however 
short.  But  the  actual  average  attendance  for  each  pupil 
in  the  public  schools  (supported  by  taxes)  did  not  exceed 
98  days,  although  the  average  length  of  the  school  session 
was  1 43. 1  days.  There  were  enrolled  in  the  aggregate 
of  public  and  private  schools  out  of  each  100  of  the  popu- 
lation between  the  ages  of  5  and  18  years,  71  pupils. 

Out  of  the  entire  number  of  sixteen  and  a  half  millions 
of  pupils  deduct  the  pupils  of  private  and  parochial  schools 
of  all  kinds,  elementary,  secondary,  higher,  and  schools  for 
art,  industry  and  business,  for  defective  classes  and  Indians, 
there  remain  over  15,000,000  for  the  public  school  enroll- 
ment, or  nearly  91  per  cent  of  the  whole.  (See  appendix  I.) 
In  the  28  years  since  1870  the  attendance  on  the  public 
schools  has  increased  from  less  than  7,000,000  to  15,000,000. 
(Appendix  II.)  The  expenditures  have  increased  some- 
what more,  namely,  from  63,000,000  to  199,000,000  of  dol- 
lars per  annum,  an  increase  from  $1.64  per  capita  of  popu- 
lation to  $2.67.  To  account  for  this  pro  rata  increase  of 
61  per  cent  in  the  cost  of  the  common  schools  one  must 
allow  for  a  slight  increase  in  the  average  length  of  the  school 
term,  and  for  the  increase  of  enrollment  from  less  than  1 7 
per  cent  to  more  than  20  per  cent  of  the  population.  But 
the  chief  items  of  increase  are  to  be  found  in  teachers* 
wages  for  professionally  educated  teachers,  and  the  cost  of 


4  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  [8o 

expert  supervision.  These  account  for  more  than  two-thirds 
of  the  50  per  cent,  while  the  remaining  one-sixth  (of  the 
whole)  is  due  to  better  apparatus  and  more  commodious 
school  buildings. 

The  increase  of  cities  and  large  villages,  owing  to  the 
influence  of  the  railroad,  has  brought  nearly  one-half  the 
school  population  within  reach  of  the  graded  school  holding 
a  long  session  of  from  1 80  to  200  days  per  year,  and  taught 
by  professional  teachers.  (See  appendix  III.)  In  1870 
there  were  for  each  10,000  inhabitants  12.75  miles  of 
railway,  but  in  1890  the  number  of  miles  of  railway  for  the 
same  number  of  inhabitants  had  risen  to  26.12  miles,  or 
more  than  double  the  former  amount.  The  effect  of  this 
increase  of  railway  is  to  extend  the  suburbs  of  cities  and 
vastly  increase  the  urban  population.  The  rural  schools  in 
sparsely  settled  districts  still  continue  their  old  practice  of 
holding  a  winter  school  with  a  session  of  60  to  80  days 
only,  and  taught  by  the  makeshift  teacher  who  works  at 
some  other  employment  for  two-thirds  of  the  year.  The 
school  year  of  ideal  length  should  be  about  200  days,  or 

5  days  per  week  for  40  weeks,  i.  e.,  nine  and  one-half  months. 
In  the  early  days  of  city  schools  the  attempt  was  made 
to  hold  a  session  of  over  46  weeks  in  length,  allowing  only 
six  weeks  or  less  for  three  short  vacations.  But  experi- 
ence of  their  advantage  to  the  pupil  has  led  to  the  increase 
of  the  holidays  to  nearly  double  the  former  amount. 

Reducing  the  total  average  attendance  in  all  the  schools, 
public  and  private,  to  years  of  200  school  days  each,  it 
is  found  that  the  average  total  amount  of  schooling  each 
individual  of  the  population  would  receive  at  the  rates 
of  attendance  and  length  of  session  for  1898,  is  five  years, 
counting  both  private  and  public  schools. 

The  average  schooling,  it  appears  from  the  above  show- 
ing, amounts  to  enough  to  secure  for  each  person  a  little 
more  than  one-half  of  an  elementary  school  course  of  eight 
years, —  enough  to  enable  the  future  citizen  to  read  the 
newspaper,  to  write  fairly  well,  to  count,  add,  subtract,  mul- 


8l]  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  5 

tiply  and  divide,  and  use  the  simplest  fractions.  In  addition 
he  acquires  a  little  geographical  knowledge,  so  important  to 
enable  him  to  understand  the  references  or  allusions  in  his 
daily  newspaper  to  places  of  interest  in  other  parts  of  the 
world.  But  the  multiplicity  of  cheap  books  and  periodicals 
makes  the  life  of  the  average  citizen  a  continuation  of  school 
to  some  extent.  His  knowledge  of  reading  is  called  into  use 
constantly,  and  he  is  obliged  to  extend  gradually  his  knowl- 
edge of  the  rudiments  of  geography  and  history.  Even  his 
daily  gossip  in  his  family,  in  the  shop,  or  in  the  field  is  to 
some  extent  made  up  of  comments  on  the  affairs  of  the  state, 
the  nation,  or  distant  peoples, —  China,  Japan,  Nicaraugua, 
or  the  Sandwich  islands,  as  the  case  may  be, —  and  world 
interests,  to  a  degree,  take  the  place  of  local  scandals  in  his 
thoughts.  Thus,  too,  he  picks  up  scraps  of  science  and 
literature  from  the  newspaper,  and  everything  that  he  learns 
becomes  at  once  an  instrument  for  the  acquirement  of 
further  knowledge.  In  a  nation  governed  chiefly  by  public 
opinion  digested  and  promulgated  by  the  daily  newspaper, 
this  knowledge  of  the  rudiments  of  reading,  writing,  arith- 
metic and  geography  is  of  vital  importance.  An  illiterate 
population  is  impenetrable  by  newspaper  influence,  and  for 
it  public  opinion  in  any  wide  sense  is  impossible ;  its  local 
prejudices  are  not  purified  or  eliminated  by  thought  and 
feeling  in  reference  to  objects  common  to  the  whole  civilized 
world. 

The  transformation  of  an  illiterate  population  into  a 
population  that  reads  the  daily  newspaper,  and  perforce 
thinks  on  national  and  international  interests,  is  thus  far  the 
greatest  good  accomplished  by  the  free  public  school  system 
of  the  United  States.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the 
enrollment  in  school  of  one  person  in  every  five  of  the  entire 
population  of  the  country  means  the  same  result  for  the 
southern  states  as  for  the  northern,  since  the  states  on  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico  enroll  nearly  22  per  cent  of  their  total  popu- 
lation, colored  and  white,  and  the  south  Atlantic  20.70  per 
cent,  while  the  north  Atlantic  and  the  western,  mountain  and 


-^ 


6  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  [82 

Pacific  divisions  enroll  only  i8  per  cent,  having  a  much 
smaller  ratio  of  children  of  school  age. 

In  a  reading  population  one  section  understands  the 
motives  of  the  other,  and  this  prevents  political  differences 
from  becoming  too  wide  for  solution  by  partisan  politics. 
When  one  section  cannot  any  longer  accredit  the  other  with 
honest  and  patriotic  motives,  war  is  only  a  question  of  time. 
That  this  general  prevalence  of  elementary  education  is 
accompanied  by  a  comparative  neglect  of  the  secondary  and 
higher  courses  of  study  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  out  of 
the  number  of  pupils  enrolled  more  than  ninety-five  in  every 
hundred  are  pursuing  elementary  studies ;  less  than  four  in 
a  hundred  are  in  secondary  studies  in  high  schools,  acade- 
mies and  other  institutions ;  only  one  in  a  hundred  (13  in 
one  thousand)  is  in  a  college  or  a  school  for  higher  studies. 

In  considering  the  reasons  for  the  increase  of  the  length 
of  the  term  of  the  elementary  school  and  its  adoption  of  a 
graded  course  of  study,  one  comes  upon  the  most  important 
item  of  improvement  that  belongs  to  the  recent  history  of 
education,  namely,  the  introduction  of  professionally  trained 
teachers.  The  first  normal  school  established  in  the  United 
States  recently  celebrated  its  fiftieth  anniversary.  It  was 
founded  at  Lexington,  Massachusetts,  in  1839.  ^^^  num- 
ber of  public  normal  schools  supported  by  the  state  or 
municipal  governments  has  increased  since  that  year  to  167, 
enrolling  46,245  students,  and  graduating  nearly  8,000  per 
annum.  To  this  number  are  to  be  added  1 78  private  normal 
schools,  with  an  aggregate  of  21,293  students  and  2,000 
graduates.  In  1880  there  were  240  normal  school  students 
in  each  million  of  inhabitants;  in  1897  there  were  936,  or 
nearly  four  times  as  many  in  each  million. 

The  professionally  educated  teacher  finds  his  place  in  the 
graded  schools,  above  mentioned  as  established  in  cities  and 
large  villages,  and  kept  in  session  for  the  entire  scholastic 
year  of  200  days.  It  is  the  experience  of  school  superin- 
tendents that  graduates  of  normal  schools  continue  to 
improve  in  skill  and  efficiency  for  many  years.     The  advan- 


83]  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  7 

tage  of  the  professionally  educated  teacher  above  others  is 
to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  he  has  been  trained  to  observe 
methods  and  devices  of  instruction.  On  entering  a  school 
taught  by  another  teacher  he  at  once  sees,  without  special 
effort,  the  methods  of  teaching  and  management,  and  notes 
the  defects  as  well  as  the  strong  points  if  there  are  any. 
He  is  constantly  increasing  his  number  of  successful 
devices  to  secure  good  behavior  without  harsh  measures, 
and  to  secure  industry  and  critical  attention  in  study.  Every  \ 
normal  school  has  a  thorough  course  of  study  in  the  ele- 
mentary branches,  taking  them  up  in  view  of  the  higher 
branches  from  which  they  are  derived,  and  explaining  their 
difficult  topics.  This  kind  of  work  prepares  the  teacher  in 
advance  for  the  mishaps  of  the  pupil,  and  arms  him  with  the 
skill  to  assist  self-activity  by  teaching  the  pupil  to  analyze 
his  problem  into  its  elements.  He  can  divide  each  step  that 
is  too  long  for  the  pupil  to  take,  into  its  component  steps, 
down  to  any  required  degree  of  simplicity.  The  normal 
school  graduate,  too,  other  things  being  equal,  has  a  better 
idea  than  other  teachers  of  the  educational  value  of  a  branch 
of  study.  He  knows  what  points  are  essential,  and  what  are 
accidental  and  subsidiary.  He  therefore  makes  his  pupils 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  those  strategical  positions,  and 
shows  him  how  to  conquer  all  the  rest  through  these. 

As  it  would  appear  from  the  statistics  given,  the  rural  dis- 
tricts are  precluded  by  their  short  school  terms  from  securing 
professional  teachers.  The  corps  of  teachers  in  a  highly- 
favored  city  will  be  able  to  claim  a  large  percentage  of  its 
rank  and  file  as  graduates  of  its  municipal  training  schools 
—  perhaps  50  to  60  per  cent.  But  the  cities  and  villages  as 
a  whole  in  their  graded  schools  cannot  as  yet  show  an  aver- 
age of  more  than  one  teacher  in  four  who  has  received  the 
diploma  of  a  normal  school. 

Another  important  advantage  has  been  named  as  belong- 
ing to  the  schools  of  the  village  or  city.  They  are  graded 
schools,  and  have  a  regular  course  of  study,  uniformity  of 
text-books,  and  a  proper  classification  of   pupils.     In  the 


8  ELEMENTARY  EDUCATION  [84 

small  rural  schools  some  20  to  50  pupils  are  brought  together 
under  one  teacher.  Their  ages  vary  from  4  years  to  20,  and 
their  degree  of  advancement  ranges  from  new  beginners  in 
the  alphabet  up  to  those  who  have  attended  school  for  10  or 
12  winters,  and  are  now  attempting  Latin  and  algebra.  It 
often  happens  that  there  is  no  uniformity  of  text-books,  except 
perhaps  in  the  spelling-book  and  reader,  each  pupil  bringing 
such  arithmetic,  geography  or  grammar  as  his  family  at  home 
happens  to  possess.  Twenty  pupils  are  classified  in  three 
classes  in  reading,  three  in  spelling,  and  perhaps  as  many 
classes  in  arithmetic,  grammar,  geography,  and  other  studies 
as  there  are  pupils  pursuing  those  branches.  The  result  is 
from  20  to  40  separate  lessons  to  look  after,  and  perhaps  five 
or  10  minutes  to  devote  to  each  class  exercise.  The  teacher 
finds  himself  limited  to  examining  the  pupil  on  the  work 
done  in  memorizing  the  words  of  the  book,  or  to  comparing 
the  answers  he  has  found  to  the  arithmetic  problems  with 
those  in  the  printed  key,  occasionally  giving  assistance  in 
some  difficult  problem  that  has  baffled  the  efforts  of  the 
pupil  —  no  probing  of  the  lesson  by  analytical  questions,  no 
restatement  of  the  ideas  in  the  pupil's  own  words,  and  no 
criticism  on  the  data  and  methods  of  the  text-book. 

This  was  the  case  in  the  old-time  district  school  —  such 
as  existed  in  1790,  when  29  out  of  30  of  the  population 
lived  in  rural  districts;  also  as  late  as  1840,  when  only  one 
in  twelve  lived  in  a  city.  As  the  railroad  has  caused  vil- 
lages to  grow  into  cities,  so  it  has  virtually  moved  into  the 
city  a  vast  population  living  near  railway  stations  in  the 
country  by  giving  them  the  morning  newspaper  and  rapid 
transportation.  In  1890  one-third  of  the  population  were 
living  in  cities  of  not  less  than  8,000  inhabitants.  But  the 
suburban  populations  made  urban  by  the  railroad  —  as  indi- 
cated above —  would  swell  the  city  population  to  one-half 
of  the  whole  nation.  Hence  the  great  change  now  taking 
place  in  methods  of  building  school  houses  and  in  organ- 
izing schools. 

In  the  ungraded  schools  the  naturally  bright  pupils  accom- 


85]  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  9 

plished  a  fair  amount  of  work  if  they  happened  to  have  good 
text-books.  They  were  able  to  teach  themselves  from  the 
books.  But  the  rank  and  file  of  the  school  learned  a  little 
reading,  writing  and  arithmetic,  and  probably  studied  the 
same  book  for  several  winters,  beginning  at  the  first  page 
on  the  first  day  of  school  each  year.  Those  who  needed  no 
help  from  the  teacher  learned  to  help  themselves  and  enjoyed 
a  delightful  freedom.  Those  who  were  slow  and  dull  did 
not  get  much  aid.  Their  industry  may  have  been  stimulated 
by  fear  of  the  rod,  which  was  often  used  in  cases  of  real  or 
supposed  indolence.  Harsh  measures  may  succeed  in  forc- 
ing pupils  to  do  mechanical  work,  but  they  cannot  secure 
much  development  of  the  power  of  thought.  Hence  the 
resources  of  the  so-called  "strict"  teacher  were  to  compel 
the  memorizing  of  the  words  of  the  book. 

With  the  growth  from  the  rural  to  the  urban  condition  of 
population  the  method  of  "  individual  instruction,"  as  it  is 
called,  giving  it  a  fine  name,  has  been  supplanted  by  class 
instruction,  which  prevails  in  village  and  city  schools.  The 
individual  did  not  get  much  instruction  under  the  old  plan, 
for  the  simple  reason  that  his  teacher  had  only  five  or  ten 
minutes  to  examine  him  on  his  daily  work.  In  the  properly 
graded  school  each  teacher  has  two  classes,  and  hears  one 
recite  while  the  other  learns  a  new  lesson.  Each  class  is 
composed  of  twenty  to  thirty  pupils  of  nearly  the  same 
qualifications  as  regards  the  degree  of  progress  made  in 
their  studies.  The  teacher  has  thirty  minutes  for  a  recita- 
tion (or  "  lesson  "  as  called  in  England),  and  can  go  into  the 
merits  of  the  subject  and  discuss  the  real  thoughts  that  it 
involves.  The  meaning  of  the  words  in  the  book  is  probed, 
and  the  pupil  made  to  explain  it  in  his  own  language.  But 
besides  this  all  pupils  learn  more  by  a  class  recitation  than 
by  an  individual  recitation.  For  in  the  class  each  can  see 
the  lesson  reflected  in  the  minds  of  his  fellow-pupils,  and 
understand  his  teacher's  views  much  better  when  drawn  out 
in  the  form  of  a  running  commentary  on  the  mistakes  of  the 
duller  or  more  indolent  pupils.     The  dull  ones  are  encour- 


lO  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  [86 

aged  and  awakened  to  effort  by  finding  themselves  able  to 
see  the  errors  and  absurdities  of  fellow-pupils.  For  no  two 
minds  take  precisely  the  same  view  of  a  text-book  exposition 
of  a  topic.  One  child  is  impressed  by  one  phase  of  it,  and 
another  by  a  different  phase.  In  the  class  recitation  each 
one  has  his  crude  and  one-sided  views  corrected  more  or 
less  by  his  fellows,  some  of  whom  have  a  better  comprehen- 
sion of  this  point,  and  some  of  that  point,  in  the  lesson.  He, 
himself,  has  some  glimpses  of  the  subject  that  are  more  ade- 
quate than  those  of  his  fellows. 

The  possibilities  of  a  class  recitation  are,  therefore,  very 
great  for  efficient  instruction  in  the  hands  of  a  teacher  who 
understands  his  business.  For  he  can  marshal  the  crude 
notions  of  the  members  of  the  class  one  after  another,  and 
turn  on  them  the  light  of  all  the  critical  acumen  of  the  class 
as  a  whole,  supplemented  by  his  own  knowledge  and  experi- 
ence. From  beginning  to  end,  for  thirty  minutes,  the  class 
recitation  is  a  vigorous  training  in  critical  alertness.  The 
pupil  afterwards  commences  the  preparation  of  his  next  les- 
son from  the  book  with  what  are  called  new  "  apperceptive  " 
powers,  for  he  finds  himself  noticing  and  comprehending 
many  statements  and  a  still  greater  number  of  implications 
of  meaning  in  his  lesson  that  before  had  not  been  seen  or 
even  suspected..  He  is  armed  with  a  better  power  of  analy- 
sis, and  can  "  apperceive,"  or  recognize  and  identify,  more  of 
the  items  of  information,  and  especially  more  of  the  thoughts 
and  reflections,  than  he  was  able  to  see  before  the  discus- 
sions that  took  place  in  the  recitation.  He  has  in  a  sense 
gained  the  points  of  view  of  fellow-pupils  and  teacher,  in 
addition  to  his  own. 

It  is  presupposed  that  the  chief  work  of  the  pupil  in  school  is 
the  mastery  of  text-books  containing  systematic  treatises  giv- 
ing the  elements  of  branches  of  learning  taught  in  the  schools. 
For  in  the  United  .States  more  than  in  any  other  country 
text-book  instruction  has  predominated  over  oral  instruction, 
its  method  in  this  respect  being  nearly  the  opposite  of  the 
method  in  vogue  in  the  elementary  schools  of  Germany. 


8/]  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  II 

The  evil  of  memorizing  words  without  understanding  their 
meaning  or  verifying  the  statements  made  in  the  text-book 
is  incident  to  this  method  and  is  perhaps  the  most  widely 
prevalent  defect  in  teaching  to  be  found  in  the  schools  of  the 
United  States.  It  is  condemned  universally,  but,  neverthe- 
less, practiced.  The  oral  method  of  Germany  escapes  this 
evil  almost  entirely,  but  it  encounters  another  evil.  The 
pupil  taught  by  the  oral  method  exclusively  is  apt  to  lack 
power  to  master  the  printed  page  and  get  out  of  it  the  full 
meaning ;  he  needs  the  teacher's  aid  to  explain  the  techni- 
cal phrases  and  careful  definitions.  The  American  method 
of  text-book  instruction  throws  the  child  upon  the  printed 
page  and  holds  him  responsible  for  its  mastery.  Hence 
even  in  the  worst  forms  of  verbal  memorizing  there  is  per- 
force acquired  a  familiarity  with  language  as  it  appears  to 
the  eye  in  printed  form  which  gradually  becomes  more  use- 
ful for  scholarly  purposes  than  the  knowledge  of  speech 
addressed  to  the  ear.  This  is  the  case  in  all  technical,  or 
scientific  language,  and  in  all  poetry  and  literary  prose ;  the 
new  words  or  new  shades  of  meaning  require  the  mind  to 
pause  and  reflect.  This  can  be  done  in  reading  but  not  in 
listening  to  an  oral  delivery. 

In  the  United  States  the  citizen  must  learn  to  help  him- 
self in  this  matter  of  gaining  information,  and  for  this  reason 
he  must  use  his  school  time  to  acquire  the  art  of  digging 
knowledge  out  of  books.  Hence  we  may  say  that  a  deep 
instinct  or  an  unconscious  need  has  forced  American  schools 
into  an  excessive  use  of  the  text-book  method. 

In  the  hands  of  a  trained  teacher  the  good  of  the  method 

is  obtained  and  the  evil  avoided.     The  pupil  is  taught  to 

assume  a  critical  attitude  towards  the  statements  of  the  book 

and  to  test  and  verify  them,  or  else  disprove  them  by  appeal 

^to  other  authorities,  or  to  actual  experiments. 

This  ideal  hovers  before  all  teachers,  even  the  poorest, 
but  it  is  realized  only  by  the  best  class  of  teachers  found  in 
the  schools  of  the  United  States, —  a  class  that  is  already 
large  and  is  constantly   increasing,  thanks  to  the  analytic 


12  ,  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  [88 

methods  taught  in  the  normal  schools.  Text-book  memoriz- 
ing is  giving  place  to  the  method  of  critical  investigation. 

This  review  of  methods  suggests  a  good  definition  of 
school  instruction.  It  is  the  process  of  re-enforcing  the 
sense-perception  of  the  individual  pupil  by  adding  the  expe- 
rience of  the  race  as  preserved  in  books,  and  it  is  more  espe- 
cially the  strengthening  of  his  powers  of  thought  and  insight 
by  adding  to  his  own  reflections  the  points  of  view  and  the 
critical  observations  of  books  interpreted  by  his  teachers  and 
fellow-pupils. 

In  the  graded  school  the  pupil  is  held  responsible  for  his 
work  in  a  way  that  is  impossible  in  the  rural  school  of 
sparsely-settled  districts.  Hence  the  method  of  investiga- 
tion, as  above  described,  is  found  in  the  city  schools  rather 
than  in  the  rural  schools.  Where  each  pupil  forms  a  class 
by  himself,  there  is  too  little  time  for  the  teacher  to  ascertain 
the  character  of  the  pupil's  understanding  of  his  book. 
Even  if  he  sees  that  there  has  been  a  step  missed  somewhere 
by  the  child  in  learning  his  lesson,  he  cannot  take  time  to 
determine  precisely  what  it  is.  Where  the  ungraded  school 
makes  some  attempt  at  classification  of  pupils  it  is  obliged 
to  unite  into  one  class  say  of  arithmetic,  grammar,  or  geog- 
raphy, pupils  of  very  different  degrees  of  progress.  The 
consequence  is  that  the  most  advanced  pupils  have  not 
enough  work  assigned  them,  being  held  back  to  the  standard 
of  the  average.  They  must  "  mark  time  "  (or  go  through 
the  motions  of  walking  without  advancing  a  step)  while  the 
rest  are  coming  up.  The  least  advanced  find  the  average 
lesson  rather  too  much  for  them,  and  become  discouraged 
after  trying  in  vain  to  keep  step  with  their  better  prepared 
fellow-pupils.  This  condition  of  affairs  is  to  be  found  in 
many  rural  districts  even  of  those  states  where  the  advantages 
of  classification  are  seen  and  appreciated  in  city  schools,  and 
an  effort  is  in  progress  to  extend  those  advantages  to  the 
rural  schools.  But  the  remedy  has  been,  in  many  cases, 
worse  than  the  disease.  For  it  has  resulted  that  classifica- 
tion gets  in  the  way  of  self-help  which  the  bright  pupil  is 


89]  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  1 3 

capable  of,  and  the  best  scholars  "  mark  time "  listlessly, 
while  the  poorest  get  discouraged,  and  only  the  average 
pupils  gain  something. 

It  must  be  admitted,  too,  that  in  many  village  schools  just 
adopting  the  system  of  grading,  this  evil  of  holding  back 
the  bright  pupils  and  of  over-pressure  on  the  dull  ones  exists, 
and  furnishes  just  occasion  for  the  criticism  which  is  made 
against  the  so-called  "machine"  character  of  the  American 
public  school.  The  school  that  permits  such  poor  classifica- 
tion, or  that  does  not  keep  up  a  continual  process  of  read- 
justing the  classification  by  promoting  pupils  from  lower 
classes  to  those  above  them,  certainly  has  no  claim  to  be 
ranked  with  schools  organized  on  a  modern  ideal. 

I  have  dwelt  on  this  somewhat  technical  matter  because 
of  its  importance  in  understanding  the  most  noteworthy 
improvements  in  progress  in  the  schools  of  the  United 
States.  Briefly,  the  population  is  rapidly  becoming  urban, 
the  schools  are  becoming  "graded,"  the  pupils  of  the  lowest 
year's  work  placed  under  one  teacher,  and  those  of  the  next 
degree  of  advancement  under  a  second  teacher  ;  perhaps 
from  eight  to  twenty  teachers  in  the  same  building,  thus  form- 
ing a  "union  school,"  as  it  is  called  in  some  sections.  Here 
there  is  division  of  labor  on  the  part  of  teachers,  one  taking 
only  classes  just  beginning  to  learn  to  read  and  write,  another 
taking  the  pupils  in  a  higher  grade.  The  inevitable  conse- 
quence of  such  division  of  labor  is  increase  of  skill.  The 
teacher  comes  to  know  just  what  to  do  in  a  given  case  of 
obstructed  progress  —  just  what  minute  steps  of  work  to 
introduce — just  what  thin  wedges  to  lift  the  pupil  over  the 
threshold  that  holds  back  the  feeble  intellect  from  entering 
a  new  and  higher  degree  of  human  learning. 

It  will  be  asked  :  What  proportion  of  the  teachers  of 
cities  and  villages  habitually  use  this  higher  method  in  con- 
ducting recitations.  According  to  a  careful  estimate,  at 
least  one-half  of  them  may  reasonably  claim  to  have  some 
skill  in  its  use ;  of  the  one-half  in  the  elementary  schools 
who  use  it  perhaps  two-fifths  conduct  all  their  recitations  so 


14  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  [9O 

as  to  make  the  work  of  their  pupils  help  each  individual  in 
correcting  defects  of  observation  and  critical  alertness.  Per- 
haps the  other  three-fifths  use  the  method  in  teaching  some 
branches,  but  cling  to  the  old  memoriter  system  for  the  rest. 
It  may  be  claimed  for  graduates  of  normal  schools  that  a 
large  majority  follow  the  better  method. 

The  complaint  urged  against  the  machine  character  of  the 
modern  school  has  been  mentioned.  I  suppose  that  this 
complaint  is  made  quite  as  often  against  good  schools  as 
against  poor  ones.  But  the  critical-probing  method  of  con- 
ducting a  recitation  is  certainly  not  machine-like  in  its  effects. 
It  arouses  in  the  most  powerful  manner  the  activity  of  the 
pupil  to  think  and  observe  for  himself.  Machine-like  schools 
do  not  follow  this  critical  method,  but  are  content  with  the 
memoriter  system,  that  prescribes  so  many  pages  of  the  book 
to  be  learned  verbally,  but  does  not  inquire  into  the  pupil's 
understanding,  or  "  apperception,"  as  the  Herbartians  call  it. 
It  is  admitted  that  about  50  per  cent  of  the  teachers  actually 
teaching  in  the  schools  of  villages  and  cities  use  this  poor 
method.  But  it  is  certain  that  their  proportion  in  the  corps 
of  teachers  is  diminishing,  thanks  to  the  two  causes  already 
alluded  to  :  first,  the  multiplication  of  professional  schools 
for  the  training  of  teachers ;  and  second,  the  employment  of 
educational  experts  as  supervisors  of  schools. 

The  rural  schools,  which  in  the  United  States  enroll  one- 
half  of  the  entire  number  of  school  children,  certainly  lack 
good  class  teaching,  even  when  they  are  so  fortunate  as  to 
obtain  professionally  educated  teachers,  and  not  five  per  cent 
of  such  schools  in  the  land  succeed  in  procuring  better  serv- 
ices than  the  "  makeshift"  teacher  can  give.  The  worst  that 
can  be  said  of  these  poorly  taught  schools  is  that  the  pupils 
are  either  left  to  help  themselves  to  knowledge  by  reading 
their  books  under  the  plan  of  individual  instruction,  or,  in  the 
attempt  at  classification  and  grading,  the  average  pupils 
learn  something,  while  the  bright  pupils  become  listless  and 
indolent  for  want  of  tasks  commensurate  with  their  strength 
and  the  backward  pupils  lose  their  courage  for  their  want  of 


9l]  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  I5 

ability  to  keep  step.  Even  under  these  circumstances  the 
great  good  is  accomplished  that  all  the  pupils  learn  the 
rudiments  of  reading,  writing  and  arithmetic,  and  all  are 
made  able  to  become  readers  of  the  newspapers,  the  maga- 
zines, and  finally  of  books. 

Another  phase  of  the  modern  school  that  more  than  any- 
thing else  gives  it  the  appearance  of  a  machine,  and  the 
American  city  schools  are  often  condemned  for  their  mechan- 
ism, is  its  discipline,  or  method  of  organization  and  govern- 
ment. In  the  rural  school  with  twenty-five  pupils,  more  or 
less,  it  makes  little  difference  whether  pupils  come  into  the 
school  room  and  go  out  in  military  order,  so  far  as  the  work 
of  the  school  is  concerned.  But  in  the  graded  school  with 
three  hundred  to  eight  hundred  pupils  order  and  discipline 
are  necessary  down  to  the  last  particular,  for  the  safety  of 
the  pupils  as  well  as  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  ends  for 
which  the  school  exists.  There  must  be  regularity  and 
punctuality,  silence  and  conformity  to  order,  in  coming  and 
going.  The  whole  school  seems  to  move  like  a  machine. 
In  the  ungraded  school  a  delightful  individuality  prevails, 
the  pupil  helping  himself  to  knowledge  by  the  use  of  the 
book,  and  coming  and  going  pretty  much  as  he  pleases,  with 
no  subordination  to  rigid  discipline,  except  perhaps  when 
standing  in  class  for  recitation. 

Regularity,  punctuality,  silence,  and  conformity  to  order, 
—  military  drill, —  seem  at  first  to  be  so  much  waste  of 
energy, —  necessary,  it  is  true,  for  the  large  school,  but  to  be 
subtracted  from  the  amount  of  force  available  for  study  and 
thought.  But  the  moment  the  question  of  moral  training 
comes  to  be  investigated,  the  superiority  of  the  education 
given  in  the  large  school  is  manifest.  The  pupil  is  taught 
to  be  regular  and  punctual  in  his  attendance  on  school  and 
in  all  his  movements,  not  for  the  sake  of  the  school  alone, 
but  for  all  his  relations  to  his  fellow-men.  Social  combina- 
tion is  made  possible  by  these  semi-mechanical  virtues. 
The  pupil  learns  to  hold  back  his  animal  impulse  to  chatter 
or  whisper  to  his  fellows  and   to  interrupt   their  serious 


1 6  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  [92 

absorption  in  recitation  or  study,  and  by  so  much  self- 
restraint  he  begins  to  form  a  good  habit  for  life.  He  learns 
to  respect  the  serious  business  of  others.  By  whispering  he 
can  waste  his  own  time  and  also  that  of  others.  In  moving 
to  and  fro  by  a  sort  of  military  concert  and  precision  he 
acquires  the  impulse  to  behave  in  an  orderly  manner,  to  stay 
in  his  own  place  and  not  get  in  the  way  of  others.  Hence 
he  prepares  for  concerted  action, —  another  important  lesson 
in  citizenship,  leaving  entirely  out  of  account  its  military 
significance. 

With  the  increase  of  cities  and  the  growth  of  great  indus- 
trial combinations  this  discipline  in  the  virtues  that  lie  at 
the  basis  of  concerted  action  is  not  merely  important,  but 
essential.  In  the  railroad  system  a  lack  of  those  semi- 
mechanical  virtues  would  entirely  unfit  one  for  a  place  as 
laborer  or  employee  ;  so,  too,  in  a  great  mill  or  a  great  busi- 
ness house.  Precision,  accuracy,  implicit  obedience  to  the 
head  or  directive  power,  are  necessary  for  the  safety  of 
others  and  for  the  production  of  any  positive  results.  The 
rural  school  does  not  fit  its  pupils  for  an  age  of  productive 
industry  and  emancipation  from  drudgery  by  means  of 
machinery.  But  the  city  school  performs  this  so  well  that  it 
reminds  some  people  unpleasantly  of  a  machine. 

The  ungraded  school  has  been  famous  for  its  harsh 
methods  of  discipline  ever  since  the  time  of  the  flogging 
schoolmaster  Orbilius  whom  Horace  mentions.  The  rural 
schoolmaster  to  this  day  often  prides  himself  on  his  ability 
to  "govern"  his  unruly  boys  by  corporal  punishment. 
They  must  be  respectful  to  his  authority,  obedient  and  studi- 
ous, or  else  they  are  made  to  suffer  bodily  pain  from  the 
hand  of  the  teacher.  But  harsh  discipline  leaves  indura- 
tions on  the  soul  itself,  and  is  not  compatible  with  a  refined 
type  of  civilization.  The  schoolmaster  who  bullies  his 
pupils  into  obedience  does  what  he  can  to  nurture  them  into 
the  same  type  as  himself. 

In  the  matter  of  school  discipline  the  graded  school  has 
an  advantage  over  the  school  of  the  rural  district.     A  corps 


93]  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  1 7 

of  teachers  can  secure  good  behavior  more  efficiently  than  a 
single  teacher.  The  system,  and  what  is  disparaged  as  its , 
"  mechanism,"  help  this  result.  In  many  cities  of  the  largest 
size  in  the  United  States,  corporal  punishment  is  seldom 
resorted  to,  or  is  even  entirely  dispensed  with.  (See  appen- 
dix V.)  The  discipline  of  the  school  seems  to  improve 
after  the  discontinuance  of  harsh  punishments.  The  adop- 
tion of  a  plan  of  building  better  suited  for  the  purpose  of 
graded  schools  has  had  much  to  do  with  the  disuse  of  the 
rod.  As  long  as  the  children  to  the  number  of  one  or  two 
hundred  studied  in  a  large  room  under  the  eye  of  the  prin- 
cipal of  the  school,  and  were  sent  out  to  small  rooms  to  recite 
to  assistant  teachers,  the  order  of  the  school  was  preserved 
by  corporal  punishment.  When  Boston  introduced  the  new 
style  of  school  building  with  the  erection  of  the  Quincy 
school  in  1847,  giving  each  class-teacher  a  room  to  herself, 
in  which  pupils  to  the  number  of  fifty  or  so  prepared  their 
lessons  under  the  eye  of  the  same  teacher  that  conducted 
their  recitations  (i.  e.,  "  heard  their  lessons  "),  a  new  era  in 
school  discipline  began.  It  is  possible  to  manage  a  school 
in  such  a  building  with  little  or  no  corporal  punishment. 

The  ideal  of  discipline  is  to  train  the  pupil  into  habits  of 
self-government.  This  is  accomplished  partly  by  perfecting 
the  habit  of  moving  in  concert  with  others,  and  by  self- 
restraint  in  all  actions  that  interfere  with  the  work  of  other 
pupils. 

That  the  public  schools  of  cities  have  worked  great  and 
favorable  changes  to  the  advantage  of  civil  order  cannot  be 
doubted.  They  have  generally  broken  up  the  feuds  that 
used  to  prevail  between  the  people  of  different  precincts. 
Learning  to  live  without  quarreling  with  school-fellows  is  an 
efficient  preparation  for  an  orderly  and  peaceful  life  with 
one's  neighbors. 

The  rural  school,  with  all  its  shortcomings,  was,  and  is 
to-day,  a  great  moral  force  for  the  sparsely  settled  regions, 
bringing  together  the  youth  of  the  scattered  families,  and 
forming  friendships,  cultivating  polite  behavior,  affording  to 


1 8  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  [94 

each  an  insight  into  the  motives  and  springs  of  action  of  his 
neighbors,  and  teaching  him  how  to  co-operate  with  them  in 
securing  a  common  good. 

The  city  school  is  a  stronger  moral  force  than  ihc  rural 
school  because  of  its  superior  training  in  the  social  habits 
named  —  regularity,  punctuality,  orderly  concerted  action 
and  self-restraint. 

Take  any  country  with  a  school  system,  and  compare  the 
number  of  illiterate  criminals  with  the  total  number  of  illit- 
erate inhabitants,  and  also  the  number  of  criminals  able  to 
read  and  write  with  the  entire  reading  population,  and  it  will 
be  found  that  the  representation  from  the  illiterate  popula- 
tion is  many  times  larger  than  from  an  equal  number  of 
people  who  can  read  and  write.  In  the  United  States  the  pre- 
vailing ratio  is  about  eight  to  one  —  that  is  to  say,  the  illit- 
erate population  sends  eight  times  its  quota  to  jails.  In  the 
prisons  or  penitentiaries  it  is  found  that  the  illiterate  stratum 
of  the  population  is  represented  by  two  and  a  half  times  its 
quota.  (See  part  IV  of  this  monograph.)  School  educa- 
tion is  perhaps  in  this  case  not  a  cause  so  much  as  an  index 
of  orderly  tendencies  in  the  family.  A  wayward  tendency 
will  show  itself  in  a  dislike  of  the  restraints  of  school.  If, 
however,  the  wayward  can  be  brought  under  the  humanizing 
influences  of  school,  trained  in  good  behavior,  which  means 
self-restraint  and  orderly  concerted  action,  interested  in 
school  studies  and  the  pursuit  of  truth,  what  can  do  more  to 
insure  a  moral  life,  unless  it  is  religion  ? 

PART  II EDUCATIONAL  ORGANIZATION   IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

The  European  student  of  education  inquiring  about 
schools  always  asks  concerning  the  laws  and  regulations 
issued  by  the  central  government  at  Washington,  taking  for 
granted  that  things  of  such  interest  as  education  are  regu- 
lated by  the  nation,  as  in  Europe. 

The  central  government  of  the  United  States,  however, 
has  never  attempted  any  control  over  education  within  the 
several  states.     It  is  further  than  ever  from  any  such  action 


95]  ELEMENTARY  EDUCATION  1 9 

at  the  present  time.  The  idea  of  local  self-government  is 
that  each  individual  shall  manage  for  himself  such  matters 
as  concern  him  alone  ;  that  where  two  or  more  persons  are 
concerned  the  smallest  political  subdivision  shall  have  juris- 
diction and  legislative  powers  ;  where  the  well-being  of  sev- 
eral towns  is  concerned  the  county  or  the  state  may  determine 
the  action  taken.  But  where  the  interests  of  more  than  one 
state  are  concerned,  the  nation  has  ultimate  control. 

While  the  general  government  has  not  interfered  to  estab- 
lish schools  in  the  states,  it  has  often  aided  them  by  dona- 
tions of  land,  and  in  some  cases  by  money,  as  in  the  acts  of 
1887  and  1890,  which  appropriate  annual  sums  in  aid  of 
agricultural  experiment  stations  and  increase  the  endowment 
of  agricultural  colleges,  which  were  formerly  established  in 
1862  by  generous  grants  of  land. 

The  total  amount  of  land  donated  to  the  several  states 
for  educational  purposes  since  1 785  to  the  present  have  been 
as  follows : 

1.  For  public  or  common  schools :  Acres 

Every  i6th  section  of  public  land  in  states  admitted 
prior  to  1848  and  the  i6th  and  36th  sections  since 
(Utah,  however,  having  four  sections) 67,893,919 

2.  For  seminaries  or  universities : 

Two  townships  in  each  state  or  territory  contain- 
ing public  land 1,165,520 

3.  For  agricultural  and  mechanical  colleges  : 

30,000  acres  for  each  member  of  congress  to  which 

the  state  is  entitled 9,600,000 

Total  number  of  acres 78,659,439 


At  the  rate  of  one  dollar  and  a  quarter  an  acre  (the  tra- 
ditional price  asked  by  the  government  for  its  lands)  this 
amounts  to  about  one  hundred  millions  of  dollars. 

Besides  this  a  perpetual  endowment  by  act  of  1887  is 
made  of  $15,000  per  annum  for  each  agricultural  experiment 
station  connected  with  the  state  agricultural  college,  and 
$25,000  perpetual  additional  endowment  by  act  of  1890  for 


20  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATIONo  [96 

each  of  the  colleges  themselves  —  this  is  equivalent  to  a 
capitalized  fund  of  one  million  dollars  at  four  per  cent  for 
each  state  and  territory,  or  in  the  aggregate  about  fifty- 
millions  more. 

The  general  government  supports  the  military  school  at 
West  Point,  established  in  1802,  to  which  each  congressional 
district,  territory  (and  the  District  of  Columbia)  is  entitled 
to  send  one  cadet,  the  president  appointing  ten  additional 
cadets  at  large.  Each  cadet  receives  $540  a  year  to  pay  his 
expenses.  (The  course  of  study  is  four  years.  The  num- 
ber of  graduates  between  1802  and  1876  was  2,640,  about 
fifty  per  cent  of  all  admitted.) 

The  United  States  naval  academy  at  Annapolis  was  estab- 
lished in  1845.  Its  course  of  study  in  1873  was  extended  to 
six  years.  Cadets  are  appointed  in  the  same  manner  as  at 
West  Point. 

The  general  government  provides  for  the  education  of 
the  children  of  uncivilized  Indians  and  for  all  the  children  in 
Alaska.  There  have  been,  besides  the  general  grants 
referred  to,  special  grants  of  land  for  educational  purposes 
such  as  the  "swamp  lands"  (Acts  of  1849,  1850,  i860),  by 
which  62,428,419  acres  were  given  to  14  states  (Alabama, 
Arkansas,  California,  Florida,  Illinois,  Indiana,  Iowa,  Lou- 
isiana, Michigan,  Minnesota,  Mississippi,  Missouri,  Ohio  and 
Wisconsin)  and  by  some  of  these  appropriated  to  education. 

By  the  act  of  1841  a  half  million  of  acres  was  given  to 
each  of  sixteen  states  (including  all  above  named  except 
Indiana  and  Ohio,  and  besides  these  Kansas,  Nebraska, 
Nevada  and  Oregon).  This  gives  an  aggregate  of  8,000,000 
of  acres,  the  proceeds  of  most  of  which  was  devoted  to 
education.  The  surplus  funds  of  the  United  States  treasury 
were  in  1837  loaned  to  the  older  states  for  educational 
purposes  to  the  amount  of  $15,000,000  and  this  fund  con- 
stitutes a  portion  of  the  school  fund  in  many  of  the  states. 

The  aggregate  value  of  lands  and  money  given  for  educa- 
tion in  the  several  states  is  therefore  nearly  three  hundred 
millions  of  dollars. 


97]  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  21 

In  1867  congress  established  a  national  bureau  of  educa- 
tion "  for  the  purpose  of  collecting  such  statistics  and  facts 
as  shall  show  the  condition  and  progress  of  education  in  the 
several  states  and  territories,  and  of  diffusing  such  informa- 
tion respecting  the  organization  and  management  of  school 
systems  and  methods  of  teaching  as  shall  aid  the  people  of 
the  United  States  in  the  establishment  and  maintainance  of 
efficient  school  systems,  and  otherwise  promote  the  cause  of 
education  throughout  the  country."  This  bureau  up  to 
1898  has  published  350  separate  volumes  and  pamphlets 
including  30  annual  reports  ranging  from  800  to  2,300  pages 
each.  The  policy  of  the  national  government  is  to  aid 
education  but  not  in  anywise  to  assume  its  control. 

The  several  states  repeat  in  the  general  form  of  their  state 
constitutions  the  national  constitution  and  delegate  to 
the  subdivisions  —  counties  or  townships  —  the  manage- 
ment of  education.  (See  appendix  VIII,  The  local  unit  of 
school  organization.)  But  each  state  possesses  centralized 
power  and  can  exercise  it  when  the  public  opinion  of  its 
population  demands  such  exercise. 

Compulsory  attendance  —  Even  in  colonial  times  as  far  back 
as  1642  a  compulsory  law  was  enacted  in  Massachusetts 
inflicting  penalties  on  parents  for  the  neglect  of  education. 
In  the  revival  of  educational  interest  led  by  Horace  Mann 
in  the  years  after  1837,  it  was  felt  that  there  must  be  a  state 
law,  with  specific  provisions  and  penalties  and  this  feeling 
took  definite  shape  and  produced  legislative  action.  A 
truant  law  was  passed  in  1850  and  a  compulsory  law  in 
1852,  requiring  a  minimum  of  12  weeks  attendance  on  school 
each  year  for  children  between  the  ages  of  eight  and  four- 
teen under  penalty  of  twenty  dollars. 

In  the  Connecticut  eolony  in  1650  the  Massachusetts  law 
of  1642  was  adopted.  Amendments  were  adopted  in  1805 
and  1 82 1.  By  a  law  of  1813  manufacturing  establishments 
were  compelled  to  see  that  "  the  children  in  their  employ 
were  taught  to  read,  write  and  cipher  [arithmetical  calcu- 
lation],  and  that  attention  was  paid  to  their  morals."     In 


22  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  [98 

1842  a  penalty  was  attached  to  a  similar  law  which  forbade 
"  the  employment  of  children  under  the  age  of  15  years  unless 
they  had  been  instructed  at  school  at  least  three  months  of 
the  12  preceding." 

The  efficiency  of  these  early  laws  has  been  denied  because 
cases  of  prosecution  have  not  been  recorded.  But  a  law- 
abiding  people  does  not  wait  until  prosecuted  before  obey- 
ing the  law. 

The  existence  of  a  reasonable  law  is  sufficient  to  secure 
its  general  obedience  in  most  parts  of  the  United  States. 
But  in  the  absence  of  any  law  on  the  subject  the  parents 
yield  to  their  cupidity  and  do  not  send  their  children  to 
school.  The  efficiency  of  a  law  is  to  be  found  in  its  results 
and  if  twenty  parents  in  a  district  send  their  children  to 
school  in  obedience  to  the  law  and  would  not  otherwise  have 
sent  them,  it  follows  that  the  law  is  very  useful  though  the 
twenty-first  parent  is  obdurate  and  refuses  to  send  his  chil- 
dren and  yet  is  not  prosecuted  for  it. 

This  explanation  of  the  working  of  one  compulsory  law 
will  throw  light  on  the  working  of  compulsory  laws  in  the 
twenty-seven  states  and  territories  that  have  passed  them. 
There  are  exceptional  localities  in  each  state  where  an 
obnoxious  law  is  openly  and  frequently  violated,  but  the 
law  is  obeyed  in  all  but  a  few  places.  In  each  locality,  too, 
there  are  individuals  who  are  disposed  to  violate  the  law  and 
succeed  in  doing  so,  while  all  the  citizens  except  these  few 
obey  the  law  because  they  have  a  law-abiding  disposition. 
Abolish  the  law  and  the  number  who  neglect  the  education 
of  their  children  will  increase  by  a  large  per  cent.  More 
and  more  attention  has  been  given  in  later  years  to  drafting 
compulsory  laws  with  provisions  that  are  sure  to  be  effi- 
cient. The  advocates  of  these  new  laws  are  apt  in  their 
pleas  for  more  stringent  laws  to  do  injustice  to  the  old  laws. 
The  following  paragraphs  show  what  states  have  adopted 
compulsory  laws  and  the  dates  of  adoption  (the  earlier  dates 
in  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts  being  unnoticed)  : 

Statistics    of  compulsory    attendance — Thirty  states,  one 


99]  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  23 

territory  and  the  District  of  Columbia  have  laws  making 
education  compulsory,  generally  at  a  public  or  approved 
private  school.  Sixteen  states  and  one  territory  do  not 
make  education  compulsory,  although  all  of  these  have  fully 
organized  systems  of  schools  free  to  every  child  of  school 
age  of  whatever  condition. 

The  most  general  period  of  required  attendance  at  school 
is  from  eight  to  fourteen  years  of  age,  as  is  the  case  in  Ver- 
mont, District  of  Columbia,  West  Virginia,  Indiana,  Michi- 
gan, North  Dakota,  South  Dakota,  Nebraska,  Kansas,  Mon- 
tana, Colorado,  Utah,  Nevada,  Idaho,  Oregon  and  California. 
It  begins  likewise  at  eight,  but  is  extended  to  15  in  Maine 
and  Washington,  and  is  from  eight  to  16  in  New  Hampshire, 
Connecticut,  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Minnesota  and  New 
Mexico. 

The  child  is  required  to  begin  attendance  at  the  earlier  age 
of  seven,  and  continue  to  12  in  New  Jersey,  to  13  in  Wiscon- 
sin, to  14  in  Massachusetts,  Kentucky  and  Illinois;  to  15  in 
Rhode  Island,  and  to  16  in  Wyoming. 

This  is  a  general  statement  of  age  limits ;  the  required 
time  period  is  in  some  states  shortened  in  the  case  of  chil- 
dren employed  to  labor,  or  extended  in  the  case  of  those  not 
so  employed,  or  growing  up  in  idleness,  or  illiterate. 

In  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  the  child  is  required  to 
attend  the  full  time  that  the  schools  are  in  session  ;  in  New 
York  and  Rhode  Island,  also,  the  full  term,  with  certain 
exceptions  in  favor  of  children  employed  to  work.  In  Penn- 
sylvania the  attendance  is  required  for  70  per  cent  of  the 
full  term ;  in  California  for  66  2-3  per  cent ;  for  20  weeks 
annually  in  Vermont,  New  Jersey,  Ohio  and  Utah  ;  16  weeks 
annually  in  Maine,  West  Virginia,  Illinois,  Michigan  and 
Nevada;  12  weeks  annually  in  New  Hampshire,  District  of 
Columbia,  Indiana,  Wisconsin,  Kansas,  North  Dakota,  South 
Dakota,  Nebraska,  New  Mexico,  Idaho,  Washington,  Ore- 
gon ;  and  eight  weeks  annually  in  Kentucky. 

In  the  following  states  habitual  truants  are  sent  to  some 
special  institution  (truant  or  industrial  school,  reformatory, 


24  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  [lOO 

parental  home,  etc.)  :  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Massachu- 
setts, Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  New  York,  New  Jersey, 
Pennsylvania,  Indiana,  Minnesota  and  Michigan. 

Massachusetts  requires  counties,  and  New  York  requires 
cities  to  maintain  truant  schools,  or  provide  for  their  truants  in 
the  truant  schools  of  neighboring  localities.  Illinois  requires 
cities  of  over  100,000  inhabitants  to  maintain  truant  schools. 
In  Rhode  Island  towns  and  cities  must  provide  suitable  places 
for  the  confinement  and  instruction  of  habitual  truants. 

Clothing  is  furnished  in  case  of  poverty  to  enable  children 
to  attend  school  in  Vermont,  Indiana  and  Colorado. 

Laws  absolutely  prohibiting  the  employment  of  children 
under  a  specified  minimum  age  in  mercantile  or  manufactur- 
ing establishments  are  in  force  in  New  Hampshire  (under 
10  years),  Rhode  Island  (under  12),  and  Massachusetts  and 
Connecticut  (under  14).  These  states,  together  with  Ver- 
mont, New  York,  New  Jersey,  Ohio,  Illinois,  Michigan, 
North  and  South  Dakota,  have  laws  permitting  the  employ- 
ment of  children  of  a  certain  age  only  while  the  schools  are 
not  in  session,  or  provided  they  have  already  attended  school 
a  given  number  of  weeks  within  the  year. 

Statistics  of  supervision  —  There  are  county  superintend- 
ents of  schools  in  all  those  states  where  the  county  is  a 
political  unit  for  the  administration  of  civil  affairs  other  than 
courts  of  law.  About  thirty-five  states  have  this  form  of 
organization.  But  in  the  six  New  England  states  and  in 
Michigan  the  only  supervision  is  that  of  the  township,  and 
the  counties  in  those  states  are  units  almost  solely  for  the 
administration  of  justice  through  county  courts.  In  Arkan- 
sas, Texas  and  North  Carolina  supervision  is  only  that  of 
the  subdivisions  of  townships  described  as  districts.  Louis- 
iana, Mississippi  and  West  Virginia  have  a  modified  town- 
ship supervision.  The  county  superintendents  are  elected  by 
the  people  in  only  13  states.  In  the  rest  they  are  appointed 
by  some  state  or  county  ofificers,  or  chosen  by  the  combined 
vote  of  the  school  boards.  (See  appendix  VIII  for  an  expla- 
nation of  the  local  unit  of  school  organization.) 


lOl]  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  25 

Each  State  has  a  superintendent  of  public  instruction. 
He  has  this  title  in  29  states ;  in  the  remaining  states  other 
designations,  as  "  superintendent  of  common  schools,"  "  of 
free  schools,"  or  "  of  public  schools,"  "  of  education "  or 
"  commissioner  of  public  schools,"  are  used ;  he  is  called 
*'  secretary  of  state  board  of  education  "  in  Massachusetts 
and  Connecticut. 

Eight  hundred  and  thirty-six  (836)  cities  have  superin- 
tendents of  their  public  schools. 

/^School  boards  —  In  cities  the  local  boards  which  have  the 
management  of  the  schools  are  generally  termed  "boards 
of  education  ; "  in  towns  and  districts  the  designations  most 
generally  used  are  "school  directors"  and  "school  trustees." 

They  are  termed  "school  directors"  in  Arkansas,  Illinois, 
Iowa,  Louisiana,  Pennsylvania,  Tennessee  and  Washington  ; 
"school  trustees"  in  Indiana,  Kentucky,  New  Jersey,  New 
York,  Mississippi,  Nevada,  South  Carolina  and  Texas ; 
"  school  boards  "  in  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  Nebraska  and  New 
Hampshire ;  "  school  committees "  in  Massachusetts  and 
Rhode  Island  ;  "  school  visitors "  in  Connecticut;  "superin- 
tending school  committees "  in  Maine ;  "  boards  of  educa- 
tion" in  Ohio;  and  "prudential  committees"  in  Vermont. 

These  boards  are  similar  in  their  constitution,  powers  and 
duties,  and  are  generally  chosen  by  the  voters  at  elections. 
They  are  corporate  bodies  and  can  make  contracts,  acquire, 
hold  and  dispose  of  property. 

They  employ  teachers  (and  superintendents  when  such  are 
deemed  necessary)  and  fix  their  salaries.  They  make  the 
rules  and  regulations  for  the  government  of  the  schools  and 
fix  the  course  of  study  and  the  list  of  text-books  to  be  used. 
They  hold  meetings  monthly  or  oftener. 

Women  in  school  administration  —  There  are  at  present 
(1899)  two  women  holding  the  position  of  state  superin- 
tendent of  schools,  18  that  of  city  superintendent,  and  256 
that  of  county  superintendent.  The  last  named  are  divided 
between  California,  Colorado,  Idaho,  Illinois,  Iowa,  Kan- 
sas,   Kentucky,    Michigan,    Minnesota,   Missouri,    Montana, 


26  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  [l02 

Nebraska,  New  York,  North  Dakota,  Oklahoma,  Pennsyl- 
vania, South  Dakota,  Tennessee,  Utah,  Vermont,  Washing- 
ton, Wisconsin  and  Wyoming.  In  all  these  states,  women 
hold  minor  school  offices  also.  Ohio,  Maine,  New  Hamp- 
shire, Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island  and  Connecticut  have 
no  officers  corresponding  to  county  superintendents,  but  in 
all  those  states  there  are  women  who  are  members  of  county 
examining  boards,  township  superintendents  and  the  like. 
They  may  be  district  trustees  or  members  of  local  school 
boards  in  still  other  states,  as  in  New  Jersey.  Women  may 
hold  any  school  office  in  Colorado,  Idaho,  Illinois,  Indiana, 
Louisiana,  Oregon,  South  Dakota,  Utah,  Vermont,  Wyo- 
ming, and  any  office  of  school  management  in  Minnesota. 
One  of  the  members  of  the  Iowa  educational  board  of  exam- 
iners must  be  a  woman. 

Women  have  like  suffrage,  in  all  particulars,  with  men  in 
Colorado,  Idaho,  Utah  and  Wyoming.  With  certain  lim- 
itations specified,  in  some  of  the  states  they  may  vote  at 
school  elections  in  Arizona,  Connecticut,  Illinois,  Indiana, 
Iowa,  Kansas,  Kentucky,  Michigan,  Minnesota,  Montana, 
Nebraska,  New  Hampshire,  New  Jersey,  New  York,  North 
Dakota,  Ohio,  Oregon,  South  Dakota,  Vermont,  Washing- 
ton and  Wisconsin.  The  limitations,  when  there  are  any, 
usually  restrict  the  suffrage  of  women  to  widows  with  chil- 
dren to  educate,  guardians  and  taxpayers,  or  to  certain  kinds 
of  elections. 

Salaries  of  teachers — The  expenditure  for  salaries  in  the 
public  schools,  teachers  and  superintendents  both  included, 
was  $123,809,412,  in  1897-98,  or  63.8  per  cent  of  the  total 
expenditure  for  school  purposes.  The  highest  average  sal- 
aries are  found  in  the  western  division,  among  the  Pacific 
states  and  territories,  the  average  per  month  for  men  being 
$58.59,  and  for  women  $50.92,  in  that  section  of  the  union. 
The  lowest  average  salaries  and  the  least  variance  between 
the  averages  for  men  and  women  are  found  in  the  South 
Atlantic  section.  The  averages  are,  for  men  $31.21,  and 
for  women  $31.45. 


103]  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  27 

The  length  of  the  school  year  must  be  considered  in 
determining  the  annual  salary.  This  period  averages  for 
the  whole  country  143.  i  days,  or  about  seven  months  of  20 
days  each,  and  ranges  from  98.6  days  in  the  south  central 
division  to  174.5  days  in  the  North  Atlantic.  (See  appendix 
VI,  Teachers'  pensions,  etc.) 

Co-education  of  the  sexes  —  In  both  the  central  and  the 
western  divisions  the  education  of  boys  and  girls  in  the  same 
schools  is  common  and  exceptions  rare  in  the  public  schools. 
In  the  North  and  South  Atlantic  divisions  many  of  the  older 
cities  continue  to  educate  the  girls  in  separate  schools.  In 
newly-added  suburban  schools,  however,  co-education  is  the 
rule  (as  in  Boston,  for  example).  In  the  rural  districts  of 
the  Atlantic  divisions  north  and  south,  co-education  has 
always  been  the  custom.  Considering  the  whole  country,  it 
may  be  said  that  co-education,  or  the  education  of  boys  and 
girls  in  the  same  classes,  is  the  general  practice  in  the  ele- 
mentary schools  of  the  United  States.  The  cities  that  pre- 
sent exceptions  to  this  rule  are  fewer,  apparently,  than  6 
per  cent  of  the  total  number.  In  the  majority  of  these 
cities  the  separation  of  boys  and  girls  has  arisen  from  the 
position  or  original  arrangement  of  buildings,  and  is  likely 
to  be  discontinued  under  more  favorable  conditions.  Of 
the  50  principal  cities  enumerated  by  the  census  of  1890, 
4,  namely,  Philadelphia  (Pennsylvania) ;  Newark  (New 
Jersey);  Providence  (Rhode  Island) ;  and  Atlanta  (Geor- 
gia)—  report  separation  of  the  sexes  in  the  high  schools 
only  ;  2  cities  of  this  class,  San  Francisco  (California),  and 
Wilmington  (Delaware),  reported  in  1892,  separation  in 
all  grades  above  the  primary.  In  6  cities,  New  York  and 
Brooklyn  (New  York) ;  Boston  (Massachusetts) ;  Balti- 
more (Maryland)  ;  Washington  (District  of  Columbia),  and 
Louisville  (Kentucky)  —  both  separate  and  mixed  classes 
are  found  in  all  grades.  Five  cities  of  the  second  class,  hav- 
ing a  population  of  8,000  or  more,  report  separation  of  the 
sexes  in  the  high  schools,  and  10  cities  of  the  same  group 
separate  classes  in  other  grades.    Of  cities  whose  population 


28  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  [104 

is  less  than  8,000,  nine  report  separate  classes  for  boys  and 
girls  in  some  grades. 

Co-education  is  the  policy  in  about  two-thirds  of  the  total 
number  of  private  schools  reporting  to  this  bureau,  and  in  65 
per  cent  of  the  colleges  and  universities. 

Sectarian  division  of  school  funds — In  connection  with  this 
matter  of  state  compulsory  laws  against  neglect  of  schools  it 
is  well  to  mention  the  provisions  made  in  the  several  states 
prohibiting  appropriations  of  money  to  aid  denominational 
schools. 

There  are  forty  states  with  constitutional  provisions  for- 
bidding all,  or  at  least  sectarian  diversion  of  the  money 
raised  for  the  support  of  education. 

1.  Constitutions  which  prohibit  sectarian  appropriations 

—  California,'  Colorado,  Florida,  Georgia,  Idaho,  Illinois, 
Indiana,"  Louisiana,  Michigan,  Minnesota,  Mississippi,^  Mis- 
souri, Montana,  New  Hampshire,  North  Dakota,  Oregon,* 
South   Dakota,  Texas,  Washington,  Wisconsin,^  Wyoming, 

—  21  states. 

2.  Constitutions  which  do  not  prohibit  sectarian  appropri- 
ations—  Alabama,*  Arkansas,**  Connecticut,  Delaware,  Iowa,** 
Kansas,  Kentucky,^  Maine,  Maryland,  Massachusetts, 
Nebraska,^  Nevada,^  New  Jersey,'  New  York,  North  Caro- 
lina, Ohio,  Pennsylvania,"*  Rhode  Island,  South  Carolina,* 
Tennessee,  Vermont,  Virginia,  West  Virginia, —  23  states. 

j».  Constitutions  which  prohibit  any  diversion  of  the  school 
fund —  Alabama,  Arkansas,  California,  Connecticut,  Flor- 
ida, Georgia,  Idaho,  Illinois,  Indiana,  Iowa,  Kansas,  Ken- 
tucky, Louisiana,  Maryland,  Massachusetts,  Michigan,  Min- 
nesota,   Mississippi,     Montana,     Nebraska,    Nevada,    New 

'Can  make  per  capita  grants  to  institutions. 

•Covers  only  religious  and  theological  institutions. 

'Prohibits  any  devise,  legacy,  or  gift  by  last  will  and  testament  to  religious  or 
ecclesiastical  corporations  or  societies. 

*  Sectarian  appropriations  can  be  made  by  two-thirds  vote  of  all  the  members 
of  both  houses  of  the  legislature. 

*Has  a  revised  constitution  pending  popular  adoption. 

•Prohibits  sectarian  instruction  in  public  schools. 

'  Prohibits  appropriations  to  societies,  associations  or  corporations. 


105]  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  29 

Jersey,  New  York,  North  Carolina,  North  Dakota,  Ohio, 
Oregon,  Pennsylvania,  Rhode  Island,  South  Carolina,  South 
Dakota,  Tennessee,  Texas,  Washington,  West  Virginia,  Vir- 
ginia, Wisconsin, —  36  states. 

The  local  unit  of  school  organization  —  The  state  exercises 
remote  authority  over  all  public  schools  in  its  borders. 
The  county  in  most  states  has  a  closer  supervision  of  all 
schools  in  its  limits,  but  has  very  little  to  do  with  schools  in 
New  England.  In  certain  states  it  becomes  the  unit  for  the 
entire  local  administration  of  public  schools.  The  town  or 
township  takes  more  or  less  of  the  local  functions  in  other 
states,  and  the  district  becomes  a  local  unit  for  variable 
functions  in  yet  others.  In  35  counties  of  Texas  there  is  a 
community  system.  Counties  generally  receive,  hold  and 
disburse  moneys  for  townships  and  districts  formed  by  sub- 
division of  counties.  Towns  or  townships  generally  hold 
the  same  relation  to  districts  formed  by  division  of  towns 
or  townships.  In  a  few  states  districts  have  their  own  tax 
collectors  and  treasurers. 

The  summarized  statement  below  shows  the  principal 
agency  through  which  local  support  and  control  of  schools  is 
exercised,  special  laws  excepted,  under  which  cities,  towns 
and  independent  districts  exist. 

County  —  Alabama,  with  either  town  or  township  ;  Florida, 
with  provision  for  districts  of  limited  power ;  Georgia  ;  Lou- 
isiana, recognizing  congressional  townships  in  accounts  of 
sixteenth  section  land  funds ;  Maryland ;  Mississippi,  with 
provision  for  separate  districts ;  North  Carolina,  with  dis- 
tricts capable  of  holding  real  estate ;  Tennessee,  with  some 
local  functions  in  districts  and  only  supervisory  powers  in 
sub-districts  ;  Utah,  with  provision  for  division. 

Town  or  township  —  Alabama,  the  congressional  township " 
for  administrative  convenience,  its  officers  appointed  and  its 
accounts  kept  by  county  officers  ;  Connecticut,  the  town  may 
abolish  districts ;  Illinois,  township  based  on  congressional 
township  or  district,  optional ;    Indiana,  New  Jersey,  Ohio 

'  The  expression  "  congressional  township  "  refers  to  the  division  established  in 
new  territories  by  the  government  survey.  Lines  of  latitude  and  longitude  cross 
one  another  six  statute  miles  apart,  making  townships  exactly  six  miles  square. 


30  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  [lo6 

and  Pennsylvania,  each  township,  incorporated  town  or  city 
(or  borough  in  Pennsylvania),  a  district  corporation  for 
school  purposes ;  Iowa,  township  based  on  congressional 
township,  with  sub-districts  for  supervisory  convenience  and 
independent  districts,  both  in  use  ;  Maine,  Massachusetts ; 
Minnesota,  township  may  be  a  district  as  a  part  of  a  county  ; 
New  Hampshire ;  New  York,  recognized  for  certain  land 
funds,  but  districts  generally ;  North  Dakota,  based  on  con- 
gressional township ;  Rhode  Island,  may  create  or  abolish 
districts ;  South  Dakota,  based  on  congressional  township ; 
Vermont,  Wisconsin,  optional  in  formation  of  districts. 

District  —  Arkansas,  Arizona,  California,  Colorado;  Con- 
necticut, where  not  abolished  by  the  town ;  Delaware, 
Florida,  Idaho ;  Illinois,  optional  with  townships ;  Iowa, 
independent  districts  as  well  as  townships  ;  Kansas,  Minne- 
sota, Missouri,  districts  may  be  less  than  townships ;  Ken- 
tucky, Michigan,  Mississippi,  optional ;  Montana,  Nebraska  ; 
Nevada,  each  village,  town  or  city  is  a  district ;  New  Mexico  ; 
New  York,  commissioner's  district,  a  county  or  part  of  a 
county,  has  supervisory  authority,  school  districts  are  parts 
of  commissioners'  districts,  towns  recognized  for  certain 
land  funds ;  North  Carolina,  with  limited  powers  as  stated 
under  county  ;  Oklahoma,  Oregon,  South  Carolina ;  Ten- 
nessee, with  limited  powers  as  stated  under  county ;  Texas, 
but  cities  may  acquire  exclusive  control  of  their  schools, 
towns  and  villages  may  be  incorporated  for  school  purposes 
only,  in  35  community  counties  families  associate  from  year 
to  year  to  support  schools  and  draw  their  share  of  public 
money  ;  Utah,  permissible  as  stated  under  county  ;  Virginia, 
West  Virginia,  corresponding  geographically  to  magisterial 
districts ;  Washington,  each  city  or  town  (incorporated)  ; 
Wisconsin,  optional,  see  town  or  township ;  Wyoming. 

PART  III THE  ELEMENTARY  COURSE  OF   STUDY 

A  committee  appointed  by  the  National  Educational  Asso- 
ciation in  1894  prepared  a  course  of  study  for  the  eight  years 
of  the  elementary  schools  recommending  two  innovations. 


I07]  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  3 1 

namely,  the  introduction  of  Latin,  French  or  German  in  the 
eighth  year  and  algebra  in  the  seventh  and  eighth  years. 
The  following  presents  the  course  as  given  in  the  report  of 
the  committee  together  with  a  conspectus  in  the  nature  of  a 
yearly  programme. 

ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  COURSE 

Reading.     Eight  years,  with  daily  lessons. 

Penmanship.  Six  years,  ten  lessons  per  week  for  first  two  years, 
five  for  third  and  fourth,  and  three  for  fifth  and  sixth. 

Spelling  Lists.     Fourth,  fifth  and  sixth  years,  four  lessons  per  week. 

Grammar.  Oral,  with  composition  or  dictation,  first  year  to  mid- 
dle of  fifth  year,  text-book  from  middle  of  fifth  year  to  close 
of  seventh  year,  five  lessons  per  week.  (Composition  writing 
should  be  included  under  this  head.  But  the  written  exami- 
nations on  the  several  branches  should  be  counted  under  the 
head  of  composition  work.) 

Latin  or  French  or  German.     Eighth  year,  five  lessons  per  week. 

Arithmetic.  Oral  first  and  second  year,  text-book  third  to  sixth 
year,  five  lessons  per  week. 

Algebra.     Seventh  and  eighth  years,  five  lessons  per  week. 

Geography.  Oral  lessons  second  year  to  middle  of  third  year, 
text-book  from  middle  of  third  year,  five  lessons  weekly  to 
seventh  year,  and  three  lessons  to  close  of  eighth. 

Natural  Science  and  Hygiene.  Oral  lessons,  60  minutes  per  week, 
eight  years. 

History  of  United  States.  Five  hours  per  week  seventh  year  and 
first  half  of  eighth  year. 

Constitution  of  United  States.     Last  half  of  the  eighth  year. 

General  History  and  Biography.  Oral  lessons,  60  minutes  a 
week,  eight  years. 

Physical  Culture.     60  minutes  a  week,  eight  years. 

Vocal  Music.     60  minutes  a  week,  eight  years. 

Drawing.     60  minutes  a  week,  eight  years. 

Manual  Training  or  Sewing  and  Cooking.  One-half  day  each  week 
in  seventh  and  eighth  years. 


32 


ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION 


[io8 


GENERAL   PROGRAM 


BRANCHES 

ISt 

year 

2d 

year 

3d 
year 

4th 
year 

5th 
year 

6th 
year 

7th 
year 

8th 

year 

lo  lessons  a 
week 

5  lessons  a  week 

Writing 

lo  lessons  a 
week 

5  lessons  a 
week 

3  lessons  a 
week 

Spelling  lists 

4  lessons  a  week 

English  grammar 

Oral,  with  composition 
lessons 

5  lessons  a  week 
with  text-book 

Latin,  French,  or  German. 

5les- 
sons 

Arithmetic 

Oral,  60  min- 
utes a  week 

5  lessons  a  week  with 
text-book 

Algebra 

5  lessons  a 

week 

Geography 

Oral,  60 
minutes 
a  week 

5  lessons  a  week 
with  text-book 

3  lessons  a 

week 

Natural  Science+Hygiene 

Sixty  minutes  a  week 

United  States  History 

5  lessons 
a  week 

United  States  Constitution 

5 
Is 

General  History J . . . . 

Oral,  sixty  minutes  a  week 

Physical  Culture 

Sixty  minutes  a  week 

Vocal  Music 

Sixty  minutes  a  week  divided  into  4  lessons 

Drawing 

Sixty  minutes  a  week                                ) 

Manual  Training  or  Sew- 
ing-|-Cookery 

One-half  day  \ 
each  week 

Number  of  Lessons 

20+7 
daily 
exer. 

20+7 
daily 
exer. 

20-1-5 
daily 
exer. 

24+5 
daily 
exer. 

27+5 
daily 
exer. 

27+5 
daily 
exer. 

23-1-6 
daily 
exer. 

23-J-6 
daily 
exer. 

Total  Hours  of  Recitations 

12 

12 

II  2-3 

13 

16  1-4 

16  1-4 

17  1-2 

17  1-2 

Length  of  Recitations 

I5min 

iSmin 

2omin 

20min 

25  min 

25  min 

3omin 

30 

min 

ioq]  elementary  education  33 

The  subjects  actually  taught  in  the  elementary  schools  —  In 
the  report  of  the  National  bureau  of  education  for  1888-89 
(pp.  373-410),  from  a  selected  list  of  82  of  the  most 
important  cities  of  the  nation,  statistics  are  given  showing 
the  amount  of  time  consumed  in  the  entire  eight  years  of 
the  elementary  course  on  each  of  the  branches  constituting 
the  curriculum.  The  returns  included  26  branches,  one 
of  which  was  spelling.  The  total  number  of  hours  of 
instruction  in  the  entire  eight  years  varied  in  the  different 
cities  from  3,000  to  9,000,  with  a  general  average  of  about 
7,000  hours,  which  would  mean  that  each  pupil  used  about 
four  and  a  half  hours  per  day  for  200  days  in  actual  study 
and  in  recitation  or  class  exercises.  The  amount  of  time 
reported  as  used  by  pupils  in  studying  and  reciting  spelling 
during  the  eight  years  varied  from  about  300  to  1,200  hours, 
with  an  average  of  516.  This  means  that  from  37  to  150 
hours  a  year,  with  average  of  77  hours  a  year  for  eight  years, 
was  devoted  to  spelling.  The  English  speaking  child  who 
learns  to  read  has  to  use  an  inordinate  amount  of  time  in 
memorizing  the  difficult  combinations  of  letters  used  to  rep- 
resent English  words. 

This  report  of  the  bureau  of  education  gives  the  time 
devoted  to  reading  in  82  cities  as  ranging  from  about  600  to 
about  2,000  hours,  and  the  average  as  1,188  hours.  Thus 
from  75  to  250  hours  a  year,  with  an  average  of  150,  are 
spent  in  learning  to  read. 

Geography  is  reported  as  using  from  200  to  1,000  hours, 
with  an  average  of  about  500,  or  25  to  125  hours  per  year, 
the  average  being  rather  more  than  60  hours  a  year.  This, 
we  see,  is  less  than  the  time  devoted  to  spelling. 

Arithmetic,  as  shown  by  the  report,  still  receives  more 
attention  than  any  other  branch.  The  amount  of  time  used 
varies  from  600  to  2,240  hours,  with  an  average  of  about 
1,190  hours  —  that  is  to  say,  from  75  to  280  hours  per  year 
—  an  average  of  150  hours  a  year.  No  other  nation  gives 
so  much  time  to  arithmetic.  The  question  naturally  arises 
whether  corresponding  results  are  obtained  in  the  mastery 


34  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  [l  lO 

of  this  difficult  branch,  and  whether  so  much  arithmetic 
strengthens  or  weakens  the  national  character  on  the  whole. 

Turning  from  arithmetic  to  grammar,  we  find  a  great 
falling  off  in  the  amount  of  attention  it  receives  compared 
with  the  time  assigned  to  it  a  few  years  ago.  The  82  cities 
report  a  very  large  substitution  of  "  language  lessons  "  for 
technical  grammar.  Grammar  proper  gets  from  65  to  680 
hours  of  the  course,  with  an  average  of  about  300  hours. 
This  would  allow  from  8  to  80  hours,  with  an  average  of  38 
hours  per  year,  if  distributed  over  the  entire  course.  But  it 
is  evident  that  grammar  proper  is,  as  a  study,  not  profitable 
to  take  up  until  the  seventh  year  of  the  course  of  study. 
But  the  language  lessons,  which  are  practiced  in  all  the 
grades  above  the  lowest  two,  more  than  compensate  for  any 
curtailment  in  technical  grammar  and  "  parsing." 

Mathematics  gives  an  insight  into  the  nature  of  matter 
and  motion,  for  their  form  is  quantitative.  But  the  form  of 
mind  on  the  other  hand  is  shown  in  consciousness  —  a  sub- 
ject and  object.  The  mind  is  always  engaged  in  predicating 
something  of  something,  always  modifying  something  by 
something,  and  the  categories  of  this  mental  operation  are 
the  categories  of  grammar,  and  appear  as  parts  of  speech. 
The  child  by  the  study  of  grammar  gets  some  practice  in  the 
use  of  these  categories  and  acquires  unconsciously  a  power 
of  analysis  of  thoughts,  motives  and  feelings,  which  is  of 
the  most  practical  character. 

History,  which  gives  an  insight  into  human  nature  as  it  is 
manifested  in  social  wholes  —  tribes,  nations  and  peoples  — 
is  a  study  of  the  elementary  school,  usually  placed  in  the 
last  year  or  two  of  the  course,  with  a  text-book  on  the  his- 
tory of  the  United  States.  The  returns  from  the  82  cities 
show  that  this  study  everywhere  holds  its  place,  and  that  it 
receives  more  than  one-half  as  much  time  as  grammar.  Con- 
sidering the  fact  that  grammar  is  begun  a  year  earlier,  this  is 
better  than  we  should  expect.  With  history  there  is  usually 
joined  the  study  of  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  for 
one-quarter  of  the  year.     Besides  this,  some  schools  have 


Ill]  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  35 

taken  up  a  special  text-book  devoted  to  civics,  or  the  duties 
of  citizens.  History  ranges  from  78  to  460  hours,  with  an 
average  of  about  1 50. 

General  history  has  not  been  introduced  into  elementary 
schools,  except  in  a  few  cases  by  oral  lessons.  Oral  lessons 
on  physiology,  morals  and  manners,  and  natural  science  have 
been  very  generally  introduced.  The  amount  of  time 
assigned  in  66  cities  to  physiology  averages  169  hours  ;  to  a 
course  of  lessons  in  morals  and  manners  in  27  cities  167 
hours  ;  to  natural  science  on  an  average  in  the  39  cities  that 
give  a  systematic  course  of  lessons,  1 76  hours. 

Singing  is  quite  general  in  all  the  schools,  and  instruction 
in  vocal  music  is  provided  for  in  many  cities.  Lessons  in 
cookery  are  reported  in  New  Haven  (80  hours)  ;  and  Wash- 
ington, D.  C.  (114  hours).  It  is  also  taught  in  Boston,  and 
many  other  cities  not  reporting  it  in  the  list  of  82. 

Physical  culture  is  very  generally  taught.  Of  the  82  cities, 
63  report  it  as  receiving  on  an  average  249  hours  a  year. 

Manual  training  —  Manual  training  is  by  no  means  a  nov- 
elty in  American  schools.  Thomas  Jefferson  recommended 
it  for  the  students  of  the  University  of  Virginia,  and  Ben- 
jamin Franklin  included  it  in  his  plan  for  an  academy  in 
Philadelphia.  An  active  propaganda  was  carried  on  in 
behalf  of  manual  labor  in  educational  institutions  for  many 
years,  beginning  about  1830,  and  some  of  our  foremost 
institutions  had  their  origin  under  its  influence.  But  what 
is  now  known  as  "  manual  training  "  is  traced  to  an  exhibit 
of  a  Russian  institution  at  the  centennial  exposition  in 
1876.  The  value  of  the  system  of  hand  training  there  sug- 
gested was  recognized  by  such  men  as  John  D.  Runkle  and 
C.  M.  Woodward,  who  became  advocates  of  the  new  idea 
and  introduced  it  into  the  institutions  under  their  charge. 
Strong  opposition  was  met  among  schoolmen  for  a  time,  but 
manual  training  has  steadily  grown  in  popularity,  and  with 
its  growth  it  has  constantly  improved  in  matter  and  method, 
and  consequently  in  usefulness.  In  1898  manual  training 
was  an  essential  feature  in  the  public  school  course  of  149 


36  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  [lI2 

cities.  In  359  institutions  other  than  city  schools  there  is 
training  which  partakes  more  or  less  of  the  nature  of  man- 
ual training,  and  which  belongs  in  a  general  way  to  the  same 
movement.  These  institutions  embrace  almost  every  class 
known  to  American  education,  and  the  manual  features  vary 
from  the  purely  educational  manual  training  of  the  Teach- 
ers college  in  New  York  city  to  the  specific  trade  instruction 
of  the  apprentice  schools. 

In  many  cases  the  legislatures  have  taken  cognizance  of 
the  movement.  Massachusetts  requires  every  city  of  20,000 
inhabitants  to  maintain  manual  training  courses  in  both  ele- 
mentary and  high  schools.  Maine  authorizes  any  city  or 
town  to  provide  instruction  in  industrial  or  mechanical  draw- 
ing to  pupils  over  1 5  years  of  age  ;  industrial  training  is 
authorized  by  general  laws  in  Connecticut,  Illinois,  Indiana 
(in  cities  of  over  100,000  population),  Maryland,  New  Jer- 
sey, New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Utah,  Wisconsin  and  Wyo- 
ming. Congressional  appropriations  are  regularly  made  for 
manual  training  in  the  District  of  Columbia ;  Georgia  author- 
izes county  manual  labor  schools,  and  in  Washington  manual 
training  must  be  taught  in  each  school  under  the  control  of 
the  State  normal  school. 

Kindergartens — Kindergartens  are  authorized  by  general 
law  in  Arizona,  California,  Colorado,  Connecticut,  Illinois, 
Indiana,  Iowa,  Michigan,  New  York,  Ohio,  Oregon,  Pennsyl- 
vania, Vermont  and  Wisconsin. 

Cities  also  establish  kindergartens  through  powers  inherent 
in  their  charters.  In  1897-98  there  were  public  kinder- 
gartens in  189  of  the  626  cities  of  8,000  population  and  over. 
In  these  189  cities  there  were  1,365  separate  kindergartens 
supported  by  public  funds.  The  number  of  kindergarten 
teachers  employed  was  2,532,  and  under  their  care  were 
95,867  children,  46,577  boys  and  49,290  girls. 

Information  was  obtained  concerning  2,998  pnvate  kinder- 
gartens in  1897-98  and  it  is  probable  that  at  least  500  others 
were  in  existence.  The  2,998  private  kindergartens  had 
6,405  teachers  and  93,737  pupils.     It  will  be  seen  that  the 


113]  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  37 

total  number  of  kindergartens,  public  and  private,  was  4,363, 
with  8,937  teachers  and  189,604  pupils.  The  actual  number 
of  pupils  enrolled  in  kindergartens  in  the  United  States  in 
1897-98  must  have  exceeded  200,000. 

PART  IV THE  PLACE  OF  POPULAR  EDUCATION   IN    THE    IDEALS 

OF  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE 

Education  in  the  United  States  is  regarded  as  something 
organic  —  something  belonging  essentially  to  our  political 
and  social  structure.  Daniel  Webster  announced,  in  his 
clear  and  incisive  manner,  this  necessity  that  appertains  to 
the  American  form  of  government.  He  said:  "On  the 
diffusion  of  education  among  the  people  rests  the  preserva- 
tion and  perpetuation  of  our  free  institutions.  I  apprehend 
no  danger  to  our  country  from  a  foreign  foe.  *  *  *  Our 
destruction,  should  it  come  at  all,  will  be  from  another 
quarter.  From  the  inattention  of  the  people  to  the  con- 
cerns of  the  government,  from  their  carelessness  and  negli- 
gence, I  confess  I  do  apprehend  some  danger.  I  fear  that 
they  may  place  too  implicit  confidence  in  their  public  serv- 
ants, and  fail  properly  to  scrutinize  their  conduct ;  that  in 
this  way  they  may  be  the  dupes  of  designing  men  and 
become  the  instruments  of  their  undoing.  Make  them  intel- 
ligent and  they  will  be  vigilant ;  give  them  the  means  of 
detecting  the  wrong  and  they  will  apply  the  remedy." 

We  are  making  the  experiment  of  self-government  —  a 
government  of  the  people  by  the  people  —  and  it  has  seemed 
a  logical  conclusion  to  all  nations  of  all  times  that  the  rulers 
of  the  people  should  have  the  best  education  attainable. 
Then,  of  course,  it  follows  that  the  entire  people  of  a  democ- 
racy should  be  educated  for  they  are  the  rulers. 

Quoting  again  from  Webster's  Plymouth  oration  in  1822  : 
"  By  general  instruction  we  seek  as  far  as  possible  to  purify 
the  whole  atmosphere,  to  keep  good  sentiments  uppermost, 
and  to  turn  the  strong  current  of  feeling  and  opinion,  as 
well  as  the  censures  of  the  law  and  the  denunciations  of 
religion,  against  immorality  and  crime." 


38  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  [l  I4 

This  necessity  for  education  has  been  felt  in  all  parts  of 
the  nation,  and  the  whole  subject  is  reasoned  out  in  many  a 
school  report  published  by  city  or  state.  By  education  we 
add  to  the  child's  experience  the  experience  of  the  human 
race.  His  own  experience  is  necessarily  one-sided  and 
shallow ;  that  of  the  race  is  thousands  of  years  deep,  and  it 
is  rounded  to  fullness.  Such  deep  and  rounded  experience 
is  what  we  call  wisdom.  To  prevent  the  child  from  making 
costly  mistakes  we  give  him  the  benefit  of  seeing  the  lives  of 
others.  The  successes  and  failures  of  one's  fellow-men 
instruct  each  of  us  far  more  than  our  own  experiments. 

The  school  attempts  to  give  this  wisdom  in  a  systematic 
manner.  It  uses  the  essential  means  for  its  work  in  the 
shape  of  text-books,  in  which  the  experience  of  the  race  is 
digested  and  stated  in  a  clear  and  summary  manner,  in  its 
several  departments,  so  that  a  child  may  understand  it.  He 
has  a  teacher  to  direct  his  studies  and  instruct  him  in  the 
proper  methods  of  getting  out  of  books  the  wisdom  recorded 
in  them.  He  is  taught  first  in  the  primary  school  how  to 
spell  out  the  words  and  how  to  write  them  himself.  Above 
all,  he  is  taught  to  understand  the  meaning  of  the  words. 
All  first  use  of  words  reaches  only  a  few  of  their  many  sig- 
nifications ;  each  word  has  many  meanings  and  uses,  but  the 
child  gets  at  only  one  meaning,  and  that  the  simplest  and 
vaguest,  when  he  begins.  His  school  work  is  to  train  him 
into  accuracy  and  precision  in  the  interpretation  of  language. 
He  learns  gradually  to  fill  each  word  of  the  printed  page 
with  its  proper  meaning.  He  learns  to  criticise  the  state- 
ments he  reads,  and  to  test  them  in  his  own  experience  and 
by  comparison  with  other  records  of  experience. 

In  other  words,  the  child  at  school  is  set  to  work  to  enlarge 
his  own  puny  life  by  the  addition  of  the  best  results  of 
other  lives.  There  is  no  other  process  so  well  adapted  to 
insure  a  growth  in  self-respect  as  the  mastery  of  the  thought 
of  the  thinkers  who  have  stored  and  systematized  the  expe- 
rience of  mankind. 

This  is  the  clue  to  the  hopes  founded  on  education.     The 


115]  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  39 

patriotic  citizen  sees  that  a  government  managed  by  illiterate 
people  is  a  government  of  one-sided  and  shallow  experi- 
ence, and  that  a  government  by  the  educated  classes  insures 
the  benefits  of  a  much  wider  knowledge  of  the  wise  ways  of 
doing  things. 

The  work  of  the  school  produces  self-respect,  because  the 
pupil  makes  himself  the  measure  of  his  fellows  and  grows  to 
be  equal  to  them  spiritually  by  the  mastery  of  their  wisdom. 
Self-respect  is  the  root  of  the  virtues  and  the  active  cause 
of  a  career  of  growth  in  power  to  know  and  power  to  do. 
Webster  called  the  free  public  school  "a  wise  and  liberal 
system  of  police,  by  which  property  and  the  peace  of  society 
are  secured."  He  explained  the  effect  of  the  school  as  excit- 
ing "  a  feeling  of  responsibility  and  a  sense  of  character." 

This,  he  saw,  is  the  legitimate  effect ;  for,  as  the  school 
causes  its  pupils  to  put  on  the  forms  of  thought  given  them 
by  the  teacher  and  by  the  books  they  use  —  causes  them  to 
control  their  personal  impulses,  and  to  act  according  to  rules 
and  regulations  —  causes  them  to  behave  so  as  to  combine 
with  others  and  get  help  from  all  while  they  in  turn  give 
help ;  as  the  school  causes  the  pupil  to  put  off  his  selfish 
promptings,  and  to  prefer  the  forms  of  action  based  on  a 
consideration  of  the  interests  of  others  —  it  is  seen  that  the 
entire  discipline  of  the  school  is  ethical.  Each  youth  edu- 
cated in  the  school  has  been  submitted  to  a  training  in  the 
habit  of  self-control  and  of  obedience  to  social  order.  He 
has  become  to  some  extent  conscious  of  two  selves ;  the  one 
his  immediate  animal  impulse,  and  the  second  his  moral 
sense  of  conformity  to  the  order  necessary  for  the  harmoni- 
ous action  of  all. 

The  statistics  of  crime  confirm  the  anticipations  of  the 
public  in  regard  to  the  good  effects  of  education.  The  jails 
of  the  country  show  pretty  generally  the  ratio  of  eight  to 
one  as  the  quotas  of  delinquents  furnished  from  a  given 
number  of  illiterates  as  compared  with  an  equal  number  of 
those  who  can  read  and  write.  Out  of  10,000  illiterates 
there  will  be  eight  times  as  many  criminals  as  out  of  10,000 


40  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  [ll6 

who  can  read  and  write.  In  a  state  like  Michigan,  for  exam- 
ple, where  less  than  five  per  cent  of  the  people  are  illiterate, 
there  are  30  per  cent  of  the  criminals  in  jail  who  are  illiter- 
ate. The  95  per  cent  who  are  educated  to  read  and  write 
furnish  the  remaining  70  per  cent. 

In  comparing  fractions,  it  is  necessary  to  consider  the 
denominators  as  well  as  the  numerators.  Comparing  only 
the  numerators,  we  should  say  education  produces  more 
crime  than  illiteracy  ;  for  here  are  only  30  per  cent  of  those 
criminals  from  the  illiterate  class,  but  70  per  cent  are  from 
those  who  can  read  and  write.  On  the  other  hand,  taking 
the  denominators  also  into  consideration,  we  say  :  But  there 
are  less  than  five  per  cent  illiterates  and  more  than  95  of 
educated  persons  in  the  entire  adult  population.  Hence  the 
true  ratio  is  found,  by  combining  the  two  fractions,  to  be 
one-eighth,  or  one  to  eight  for  the  respective  quotas  fur- 
nished.     (f:g::8:i). 

The  penitentiaries,  or  state  prisons,  contain  the  selected 
criminals  who  have  made  more  serious  attacks  on  person 
and  property  and  on  the  majesty  of  the  law  than  those  left 
in  the  jails.  These,  therefore,  come  to  a  larger  extent  from 
the  70  per  cent  of  arrests  which  are  from  the  educated  class  ; 
and  it  is  found,  by  comparing  the  returns  of  the  20  odd  states 
that  keep  records  of  illiteracy,  that  the  illiterates  furnish 
from  two  to  four  times  their  quota  for  the  prisons,  while 
they  furnish  eight  times  their  quota  for  the  jails  and  houses 
of  correction. 

But  it  is  found  on  investigation  that  the  criminals  who  can 
read  and  write  are  mostly  from  the  ranks  bordering  on  illit- 
eracy. They  may  be  described  as  barely  able  to  read  and 
write,  but  without  training  in  the  use  of  those  arts  for 
acquainting  themselves  with  the  experience  and  wisdom  of 
their  fellow-men.' 

'A  point  is  made  that  those  states  which  have  the  completest  systems  of  educa- 
tion have  the  most  criminals  in  their  jails  and  prisons.  This  is  true,  but  its  sig- 
nificance is  not  read  aright  until  one  sees  by  an  analysis  of  the  causes  of  arrest 
that  it  is  not  a  real  increase  of  crime,  but  an  increase  of  zeal  on  the  part  of  the 
community  to  abolish  the  seeds  of  crimes,  to  repress  the  vices  that  lead  to  crime. 


117]  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  4 1 

It  is  against  all  reason  and  all  experience  that  the  school 
whose  two  functions  are  to  secure  good  behavior  and  an 
intelligent  acquaintance  with  the  lessons  of  human  experi- 
ence, should  not  do  what  Webster  said,  namely,  "  Prevent 
in  some  measure  the  extension  of  the  penal  code,  by  inspir- 
ing a  salutary  and  conservative  principle  of  virtue  and  of 
knowledge  in  an  early  age." 

Thus  the  political  problem,  which  proposes  to  secure  the 
general  welfare  by  intrusting  the  management  of  the  gov- 
ernment to  representatives  chosen  by  all  the  people,  finds 
its  solution  in  the  establishment  of  schools  for  the  people. 

PART    V HISTORICAL  BEGINNINGS  OF  SCHOOLS  IN  THE  UNITED 

^  STATES 

All  who  become  interested  in  the  system  of  education  pre- 
vailing in  the  United  States  and  see  the  direct  bearing  it  has 
on  the  realization  of  the  ideal  of  self-government,  feel  an 
interest  in  the  question  of  its  origin.  Anything  is  best 
understood  when  seen  in  the  perspective  of  its  history.  We 
see  not  only  what  is  present  before  us  but  its  long  trend 
hitherward. 

The  school  is  the  auxiliary  institution  founded  for  the 
purpose  of  reinforcing  the  education  of  the  four  funda- 
mental institutions  of  civilization.  These  are  the  family, 
civil  society  (devoted  to  providing  for  the  wants  of  food, 
clothing,  and  shelter),  the  state,  the  church.  The  character- 
istic of  the  school  is  that  it  deals  with  the  means  necessary 
for  the  acquirement,  preservation,  and  communication  of 
intelligence.  The  mastery  of  letters  and  of  mathematical 
symbols ;  of  the  technical  terms  used  in  geography  and  gram- 
mar and  the  sciences  ;  the  conventional  meaning  of  the  lines 
used  on  maps  to  indicate  water  or  mountains  or  towns  or 
latitude  and  longitude,  and  the  like.     The  school  devotes 

In  Massachusetts,  for  example,  there  were  in  1850,  3,351  arrests  for  drunkenness, 
while  in  1885,  the  number  had  increased  to  18,701.  But  meanwhile  the  crimes 
against  person  and  property  had  decreased  from  i860  to  1885  forty-four  per  cent, 
making  allowance  for  increase  of  population.  Life  and  property  had  become 
more  safe,  but  drunkenness  had  become  less  safe. 


42  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  [ll8 

itself  to  instructing  the  pupil  on  these  dry  details  of  arts 
that  are  used  to  record  systematic  knowledge.  These  con- 
ventionalities once  learned,  the  youth  has  acquired  the  art 
of  self-help ;  he  can  of  his  own  effort  open  the  door  and 
enter  the  treasure-house  of  literature  and  science.  What- 
ever his  fellow-men  have  done  and  recorded  he  can  now 
learn  by  sufficient  diligence  of  his  own. 

The  difference  between  the  part  of  education  acquired  in 
the  family  and  that  acquired  in  the  school  is  immense  and 
incalculable.  The  family  arts  and  trades,  manners  and 
customs,  habits  and  beliefs,  form  a  sort  of  close-fitting 
spiritual  vesture :  a  garment  of  the  soul  always  worn,  and 
expressive  of  the  native  character  not  so  much  of  the  indi- 
vidual as  of  his  tribe  or  family  or  community.  The  indi- 
vidual has  from  his  birth  been  shaped  into  these  things  as 
by  a  mould ;  all  his  thinking  and  willing  and  feeling  have 
been  moulded  into  the  form  or  type  of  humanity  looked 
upon  as  the  ideal  by  his  parents  and  acquaintances. 

This  close-fitting  garment  of  habit  gives  him  direction  but 
not  self-direction  or  freedom.  He  does  what  he  does  blindly, 
from  the  habit  of  following  custom  and  doing  as  others  do. 

But  the  school  gives  a  different  sort  of  training, —  its 
discipline  is  for  the  freedom  of  the  individual.  The  educa- 
tion of  the  family  is  in  use  and  wont  and  it  trains  rather  than 
instructs.  The  result  is  unconscious  habit  and  ungrounded 
prejudice  or  inclination.  Its  likes  and  dislikes  are  not 
grounded  in  reason,  being  unconscious  results  of  early  train- 
ing. But  the  school  lays  all  its  stress  on  producing  a  con- 
sciousness of  the  grounds  and  reasons  of  things.  I  should 
not  say  all  its  stress ;  for  the  school  does  in  fact  lay  much 
stress  on  what  is  called  discipline, —  on  habits  of  alert  and 
critical  attention,  on  regularity  and  punctuality,  and  self- 
control  and  politeness.  But  the  mere  mention  of  these 
elements  of  discipline  shows  that  they,  too,  are  of  a  higher 
order  than  the  habits  of  the  family,  inasmuch  as  they  all 
require  the  exertion  of  both  will  and  intellect  consciously 
in  order  to  attain  them.     The  discipline  of  the  school  forms 


1 1 9]  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  43 

a  sort  of  conscious  superstructure  to  the  unconscious  basis 
of  habits  which  have  been  acquired  in  the  family. 

School  instruction,  on  the  other  hand,  is  given  to  the 
acquirement  of  techniques  ;  the  technique  of  reading  and 
writing,  of  mathematics,  of  grammar,  of  geography,  history, 
literature,  and  science  in  general. 

One  is  astonished  when  he  reflects  upon  it  at  first,  to  see 
how  much  is  meant  by  this  word  technique.  All  products  of 
human  reflection  are  defined  and  preserved  by  words  used  in 
a  technical  sense.  The  words  are  taken  out  of  their  collo- 
quial sense,  which  is  a  loose  one  except  when  employed  as 
slang.  For  slang  is  a  spontaneous  effort  in  popular  speech 
to  form  technical  terms. 

The  technical  or  conventional  use  of  signs  and  symbols 
enables  us  to  write  words  and  record  mathematical  calcula- 
tions ;  the  technical  use  of  words  enables  us  to  express 
clearly  and  definitely  the  ideas  and  relations  of  all  science. 
Outside  of  technique  all  is  vague  hearsay.  The  fancy  pours 
into  the  words  it  hears  such  meanings  as  its  feelings  prompt. 
Instead  of  science  there  is  superstition. 

The  school  deals  with  technique  in  this  broad  sense  of 
the  word.  The  mastery  of  the  technique  of  reading,  writ- 
ing, geography  and  history  lifts  the  pupil  into  a  plane  of 
freedom  hitherto  not  known  to  him.  He  can  now  by  his 
own  effort  master  for  himself  the  wisdom  of  the  race. 

By  the  aid  of  such  instruments  as  the  family  education  has 
given  him  he  cannot  master  the  wisdom  of  the  race,  but  only 
pick  up  a  few  of  its  results,  such  as  the  custom  of  his  com- 
munity preserves.  By  the  process  of  hearsay  and  oral 
inquiry  it  would  take  the  individual  a  lifetime  to  acquire 
what  he  can  get  in  six  months  by  the  aid  of  the  instruments 
which  the  school  places  in  his  hands.  For  the  school  gives 
the  youth  the  tools  of  thought. 

Immigrants  to  America  in  the  colonial  period  laid  stress 
on  the  establishment  of  schools.  The  ideas  of  Luther 
were  echoed  by  reformers  in  Holland,  Sweden,  Switzer- 
land and  elsewhere.     Education  is  called  "  the  foundation 


44  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  [l20 

of  the  commonwealth,"  in  1853,  in  a  school  law  of  Holland. 
At  that  time  there  was  a  stringent  school  law  passed.  In 
Sweden  education  was  common  before  1650,  and  every  peas- 
ant's child  was  taught  to  read. 

Boston,  in  1635,  voted  a  school  and  funds  to  support  a 
master.  Roxbury  was  quite  active  in  the  founding  of  free 
schools.  Plymouth,  Weymouth,  Dorchester,  Salem,  Cam- 
bridge, and  other  towns  had  schools  before  1650.  A  law  of 
the  general  court  of  Massachusetts  decreed  that  in  every 
town  the  selectmen  should  prosecute  those  who  refused  to 
"  train  their  children  in  learning  and  labor,"  and  to  impose  a 
fine  of  20  shillings  on  those  who  neglected  to  teach  their 
children  "so  much  learning  as  may  enable  them  perfectly 
to  read  the  English  tongue." 

Schools  were  established  in  the  Connecticut  colonies 
immediately  after  their  settlement.  The  Rhode  Island  col- 
onies had  schools  by  1650.  In  1636  occurred  the  important 
vote  of  the  general  court  of  Massachusetts,  setting  apart 
four  hundred  pounds  for  the  establishment  of  a  college  which 
was  endowed  two  years  afterward  by  John  Harvard,  receiv- 
ing 1700  pounds  and  named  from  its  benefactor.  The 
public  Latin  school  of  Boston  dates  from  1635.  Meanwhile 
in  New  York  the  Dutch  had  brought  over  their  zeal  for 
education.  The  Dutch  West  India  company,  in  1621, 
charged  its  colonists  to  maintain  a  clergyman  and  a  school- 
master. It  seems  that  in  1625  the  colonial  estimate  included 
a  clergyman  at  1440  florins,  and  a  schoolmaster  at  360 
florins.  In  1633  the  first  schoolmaster  arrived  —  Adam 
Roelandson.  His  name  is  revered  like  that  of  Ezekiel 
Cheever  and  Philomon  Purmont,  schoolmasters  of  early 
Boston. 

As  regards  common  schools  in  Virginia,  the  opinion  of  the 
royal  governor,  Berkeley,  is  often  quoted :  "  I  thank  God 
there  be  no  free  schools  nor  printing-presses,  and  I  hope  we 
shall  not  have  them  these  hundred  years ;  for  learning  has 
brought  disobedience  and  heresy  and  sects  into  the  world, 
and  printing  has  divulged  them  and  libels  against  the  best 


I2l]  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  45 

of  governments :  God  keep  us  from  both."  The  governor 
of  the  Connecticut  colony  answered  to  a  question  (appar- 
ently of  the  commissioners  of  foreign  plantations)  :  "  One- 
fourth  of  the  annual  revenue  of  this  colony  is  laid  out  in 
maintaining  free  schools  for  the  education  of  our  children." 

A  propos  to  this  utterance  of  Berkeley,  against  whom  the 
more  progressive  spirit  of  Virginia  arose  in  rebellion  in  1676, 
there  should  be  quoted  a  more  noteworthy  sentence  from  the 
Virginian,  Thomas  Jefferson,  who  wrote  (to  J.  C.  Cabell)  in 
181 8:  **A  system  of  general  instruction  which  shall  reach 
every  description  of  our  citizens  from  the  richest  to  the 
poorest,  as  it  was  my  earliest,  so  shall  it  be  the  latest  of  all 
the  public  concerns  in  which  I  shall  permit  myself  to  take 
an  interest." 

In  1647  the  Massachusetts  general  court  passed  what  has 
become  the  most  celebrated  of  the  early  school  laws  of  the 
colonies.  In  it  occurs  the  often-quoted  passage:  "To  the 
end  that  learning  may  not  be  buried  in  the  graves  of  our 
forefathers,  *  *  *  it  is  ordered  that  every  township 
within  thi^  jurisdiction  *  *  *  q(  ^-j^g  number  of  fifty 
households  shall  appoint  one  within  their  town  to  teach  all 
such  children  as  shall  resort  to  him  to  write  and  read,  whose 
wages  shall  be  paid  either  by  the  parents  or  masters  of  such 
children,  or  by  the  inhabitants  in  general  i«  *  *  further 
ordered  that  any  town  *  *  *  Qf  q^^q  hundred  *  *  * 
householders  *  *  *  shall  set  up  a  grammar  school,  the 
master  thereof  being  able  to  instruct  youths  so  far  as  they 
may  be  fitted  for  the  university."  This  law  attached  a  pen- 
alty to  its  violation.  **  Grammar  "  meant  Latin  grammar  at 
that  period. 

New  Jersey  established  schools  as  early  as  1683,  and  an 
example  of  a  permanent  school  fund  is  found  in  an  appro- 
priation made  that  year.  In  1693  a  law  compelled  citizens 
to  pay  their  shares  for  the  maintenance  of  a  school.  In 
1726  a  clergyman  from  Pennsylvania  established  in  New 
Jersey  a  classical  school  that  grew  in  after  times  into  Prince- 
ton college. 


46  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  [l2  2 

The  original  charter  given  William  Penn  required  that 
the  government  of  his  colony  should  erect  and  aid  public 
schools.  Within  20  years  after  its  settlement,  schools  were 
founded  in  Philadelphia,  and  others  in  towns  of  that  colony. 

The  management  of  the  district  (elementary)  schools 
began  in  most  cases  with  the  church  and  gradually  came 
into  the  hands.of  the  smallest  political  subdivision,  known  as 
"districts."  Each  township  was  divided  into  districts  for 
school  purposes,  and  for  minor  political  purposes  such  as 
repair  of  the  public  highways.  Each  district  contained  an 
average  of  four  square  miles,  with  a  schoolhouse  near  the  cen- 
ter of  population,  usually  a  little  distance  from  some  village, 
and  holding  a  maximum  of  forty  or  fifty  pupils.  The  school 
committee  employed  teachers.  The  schools  held  a  three 
months'  session  in  the  winter,'and  sometimes  this  was  made 
four  months.  The  winter  school  was  nearly  always  "  kept " 
by  a  man.  There  might  be  a  summer  school  for  a  brief 
session  kept  by  a  woman.  Wages  for  the  winter  school, 
even  as  late  as  1840,  in  the  rural  districts  of  New  England, 
were  six  to  ten  dollars  a  month.  The  schoolmaster  might 
be  a  young  college  student  trying  to  earn  money  during  his 
vacation  to  continue  his  course  in  college.  Morexommonly 
he  was  a  surveyor,  or  clerk,  or  a  farmer  who  had  a  slender 
store  of  learning  but  who  could  **  keep  order."  He  pos- 
sessed the  faculty  to  keep  down  the  boisterous  or  rebellious 
pupils  and  could  hear  the  pupils  recite  their  lessons  memor- 
ized by  them  from  the  book. 

There  were  in  some  places  school  societies,  semi-public 
corporations,  that  founded  and  managed  the  schools,  receiv- 
ing more  or  less  aid  from  the  public  funds.  Such  associa- 
tions provided  much  of  the  education  in  New  York,  Phila- 
delphia, and  in  many  parts  of  New  England  before  the 
advent  of  the  public  school. 

When  the  villages  began  to  catch  the  urban  spirit  and 
establish  graded  schools  with  a  full  annual  session,  there 
came  a  demand  for  a  higher  order  of  teacher,  the  profes- 
sional teacher,  in  short.     This  caused  a  comparison  of  ideals ; 


123]  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  47 

the  best  enlightened  in  the  community  began  an  agita- 
tion of  the  school  question,  and  supervision  was  demanded. 
In  Massachusetts,  where  the  urban  civilization  had  made 
most  progress,  this  agitation  resulted  in  the  formation  of  a 
state  board  of  education  in  1837,  and  the  employment  of 
Horace  Mann  as  its  secretary  (June,  1837).  Boston  had 
been  connected  with  Providence,  Worcester  and  Lowell  by 
railroads  before  1835,  ^^^  ^^  1842  the  first  great  trunk  rail- 
road had  been  completed  through  Springfield  to  Albany, 
opening  to  Boston  a  communication  with  the  great  west  by 
the  Erie  canal  and  the  newly  completed  railroad  from  Albany 
to  Buffalo.  This  was  the  beginning  of  the  great  urban  epoch 
in  America  that  has  gone  on  increasing  the  power  of  the 
city  to  this  day. 

The  number  of  cities  containing  8,000  inhabitants  and 
upwards,  was,  in  1790,  only  six;  between  1800  and  18 10  it 
had  increased  to  11  ;  in  1820  to  13;  in  1830,  26;  in  1840, 
44;  in  the  fifty  years  between  1840  and  1890  it  increased 
from  44  to  443,  or  10  times  the  former  number.  The  urban 
population  of  the  country  in  1790  was,  according  to  the 
superintendent  of  the  census  (see  Bulletin  No.  52,  April  17, 
1 791),  only  one  in  30  of  the  population;  in  1840  it  had 
increased  to  one  in  12  ;  in  1890,  to  one  in  three.  In  fact, 
if  we  count  the  towns  on  the  railroads  that  are  made  urban 
by  their  close  connection  with  the  large  cities,  and  the  subur- 
ban districts,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  now  one-half  of  the  popu- 
lation is  urban. 

Horace  Mann  came  to  the  head  of  education  in  Massachu- 
setts just  at  the  beginning  of  the  epoch  of  railroads  and  the 
growth  of  cities.  He  attacked  with  unsparing  severity  the 
evils  of  the  schools  as  they  had  been.  The  school  district 
system,  introduced  into  Connecticut  in  1701,  into  Rhode 
Island  about  1750,  and  into  Massachusetts  in  1789,  was  pro- 
nounced by  him  to  be  the  most  disastrous  feature  in  the 
whole  history  of  educational  legislation  in  Massachusetts. 

Horace  Mann  extended  his  criticisms  and  suggestions  to 
the  examination  of  teachers  and  their  instruction  in  teachers' 


48  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  [124 

institutes ;  to  the  improvement  of  school  buildings ;  the 
raising  of  school  funds  by  taxation ;  the  creating  of  a  cor- 
rect public  opinion  on  school  questions ;  the  care  for  vicious 
youth  in  appropriate  schools.  He  discarded  the  hide-bound 
text-book  method  of  teaching  and  substituted  the  oral  dis- 
cussion of  the  topic  in  place  of  the  memorizing  of  the  words 
of  the  book.  He  encouraged  school  libraries  and  school 
apparatus. 

Horace  Mann's  influence  founded  the  first  normal  school 
in  the  United  States  at  Lexington  (afterwards  moved  to 
Framingham),  and  a  second  one  founded  at  Bridgewater  in 
the  fall  of  the  same  year  (1839). 

Inspired  by  the  example  in  Massachusetts,  Connecticut 
was  aroused  by  Henry  Barnard,  who  carried  through  the 
legislature  the  act  organizing  a  state  board  of  commissioners, 
and  became  himself  the  first  secretary  of  it  (1839).  ^^  1849, 
Connecticut  established  a  normal  school.  In  1843,  ^^' 
Barnard  went  to  Rhode  Island  and  assisted  in  drawing  up 
the  state  school  law  under  which  he  became  the  first  com- 
missioner, and  labored  there  six  years. 

These  were  the  chief  fermenting  influences  in  education 
that  worked  a  wide  change  in  the  management  of  schools  in 
the  middle  and  western  states  within  the  past  fifty  years. 

Superintendents  of  city  school  systems  began  in  1837 
with  Buffalo.  Providence  followed  in  1839;  New  Orleans 
in  1841  ;  Cleveland  in  1844;  Baltimore  in  1849;  Cincinnati 
in  1850;  Boston  in  1851  ;  New  York,  San  Francisco  and 
Jersey  City  in  1852;  Newark  and  Brooklyn  in  1853;  Chi- 
cago and  St.  Louis  in  1854  ;  and  finally  Philadelphia  in  1883. 

State  superintendents  began  with  New  York,  181 3  ;  New 
York  was  followed  by  16  of  the  states  before  1850.  From 
1 85 1  to  the  civil  war,  eight  states  established  the  office 
of  state  superintendent ;  since  then,  nineteen  other  states, 
including  10  in  the  south,  that  had  no  state  systems  of 
education  previously. 

Normal  schools  in  the  United  States  increased  from  one, 
beginning  in  1839  ^^  Massachusetts,  to  138  public  and  46 


125]  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  49 

private  normal  schools  in  1889,  with  an  attendance  of 
upwards  of  28,000  students  preparing  for  the  work  of  teach- 
ing. This  would  give  a  total  of  some  twelve  thousand  a 
year  of  new  teachers  to  meet  the  demand.  It  may  be 
assumed,  therefore,  that  less  than  one-sixth  of  the  supply  of 
new  teachers  comes  from  the  training  schools  specially 
designed  to  educate  teachers. 

The  history  of  education  since  the  time  of  Horace  Mann 
is  very  largely  an  account  of  the  successive  modifications 
introduced  into  elementary  schools  through  the  direct  or 
indirect  influence  of  the  normal  school. 


50 


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ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION 


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m  m  IN.  cs. 
M  C4  oo  O 
■*  O  \0  fo 


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r«.«oo  t^w  o  foo  moo  o  c* 
c  M  tN.  w  »ooo  O"  «  fn  t*«  ^  o» 
ts,  m  t^  -*  m  «  -^vo  -,^  ,^.  «  fo 


00  m  CT-  M  00  t>.oo 


\o  >o  0  o> 
m  tsi  «  00 


«  VO    t^OO    l^\0     00 

>  m  ■«i-  «  o  o    t>. 


>m«*o  m^o  mm 
lo  I-  c)  -^  fnoo  mvo 
r^N  moco  rHm(>. 
■*■♦■*  o  m  •*  t^oo 


?«? 


«    In.  CvVO    m  fOOO    O  O 

r*.  moo  vO  00  00  ro  t*  ^ 

cnOtN-^wooO  *0 

O^OwwrnrOMO  M 

rs  ^\o  «  «  M  m  en  ti 


fn  o 


•SB 


a  rt 


22 


I-5-S2  2 


>o  en      lo  > 


c  .-■  nj  k-l  ^^ 

o  >^■3  u  •;:  2  u  rt 


C   B   C 

■S  o  o 


"  f 


<S 


54 


ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION 


[130 


APPENDIX  III  —  Common  school  statistics  of  the  United  States 


1870-71 


1879-80 


1889-90 


1897-98  a 


■  General  statistics 


Total  population 

Number  of  persons  5  to  18  years  of  age... 
Number  of  different  pupils  enrolled  on  the 

school  registers 

Per  cent  of  total  population  enrolled.... 
Per  cent   of  persons  5   to   18  years   of  age 

enrolled 

Average  daily  attendance 

Ratio  of  same  to  enrollment 

Average  length  of  school  term  (days) 

Aggregate  number  of  days  attended     .    ... 
Average   number  for  each   person   5   to   i 

years  of  age 

Average  number  for  each  pupil  enrolled. . . 


Male  teachers. . .. 
Female  teachers  , 


Whole  number  of  teachers 

Per  cent  of  male  teachers 

Average  monthly  wages  of  teachers : 

Males 

Females 

Number  of  schoolhouses 

Value  of  school  property 


II  — Financial  statistics 

Receipts : 

Income  from  permanent  funds. 

From  state  taxes 

From  local  taxes 

From  all  other  sources 


Total  receipts. 


Per  cent  of  total  derived  from  - 

Permanent  funds 

State  taxes 

Local  taxes ■ 

All  other  sources 


Expenditures: 

For  sites,  buildings,  furniture,  libraries, 

and  apparatus 

For  salaries   of    teachers  and   superin- 
tendents   

For  all  other  purposes 


Total  expenditures _. ... 

Expenditure  per  capita  of  population. 


Expenditure  per  pupil  (of  average  attend- 
ance) : 

For  sites,  buildings,  etc 

For  salaries 

For  all  other  purposes 


Total  expenditure  per  pupil. 


Per  cent  of  total  expenditure  devoted  to  — 

Sites,  buildings,  etc 

Salaries 

All  other  purposes 

Average  expenditure  per  day  for  each  pupil 
On  cents): 

For  tuition 

For  all  purposes 


39  500  500 
12  305  600 

7  561  582 
19.14 

61.4s 

4  545  317 

60.1 

132. 1 

600  432  802 

48.7 
79-4 


50  15s  783 
15  065  767 

9  867  505 
19.67 

65.50 

6  144  143 

62.3 

i3"-3 
800  719  970 


90293 
129  932 


122  795 
163  798 


220  225 
41.0 


286  593 
42.8 


132  119 
$143  818  703 


178  222 
$20  9571  718 


$42  580  853 


$55  942  972 


$69  107  612 
^•75 


$78  094  687 
1.56 


$9-37 


$9.10 


$15.20 


$12.71 


61.6 


71.6 


"•5 


7.0 
9-7 


62  622  250 
18  543  201 

12  722  581 
20.32 

68. 6i 

8  153  63s 

64.1 

134-7 
I  098  232  725 

59-2 
86.3 


"5  525 
238  397 


363  922 
34-5 


324  526 
$342  531  791 


$7  744  765 
26  345  323 
97  222  426 
II  8S2  392 


$143  194  806 


5-4 
18.4 
67.9 

8.3 


$26  207  041 

91  836  484 
22  463  190 


$140  506  715 
2.24 


$3-21 

11.26 
2.76 


$17.23 


18.6 
65-4 
16.0 


8.4 
12.8 


72  737  100 
21  458  294 

IS  038  636 
20.68 

70.08 

10  286  092 

68.4 

143 -I 

I  471  435  367 

68.6 
97.8 


131  75° 
277  443 


409  193 
32.2 

b  $45  16 

b  $38  74 

242  390 

$492  703  781 


$9  213  323 
35  600  643 
134  104  053 
20  399  578 


$199  317  597 


4-6 
17.9 
67.3 
10. 1 


$32  814  532 

123  809  412 
37  396  526 


$194  020*470 
2.67 


$3-19 
12.04 
3-63 


$18.86 


16.9 
63.8 
19-3 


8.4 
J3-« 


-■  The  fisures  for  1897-98  are  approximate. 


/  la  44  states. 


i3i] 


ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION 


55 


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M  ^mioMoooo  «  ■* 

\0    O    0**0    t^  C  m  t>.^0 

MM       cnMnoomo^ 


0  »n  «  ■♦  fo  ON  m^o 
r^  «  00  o  a"©  «~>o 

Hl^^ll 

g  o  o  « 
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tN.      M  fl  tvoo  vo  n  n  00 


O   fp 

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JO  jsqtana  aScjdAy 


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SOOOO    «    MNOOO    M    o 


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Xvp  qDisd  iooq3s 
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JO  jaqoxna  92fiBa9Ay 


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M  w    M    M   M    w 


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m  lovo  «  o 
vo  «»o  b*  M 
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rs,  p  p-  w  00  h«.oo  m  m 
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56 


ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION 


[132 


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O  C   3   c 


«  m  en 
O  O  »n 


o-  c  m  m  moo  ■^  m  m  m  t^  t^ 
o^M  o  oo^moo^o  o  ■♦ 

mvo  oow«mMooooo«>-« 
vo  -^^o  00  m  a»  m  ^00  00  w  o 
1000  -<«  tHOO  -*«  ««  t^o 
«  ^s^o  ^o  m  ^00  no  m  m  m  en 


O  M  H  «  fn*«  i*.iAr^o 
H  «  m*omwvo  mt-*o»-«r 
NO  fnM  --j-ot^-fn-^m  ■♦^o 
t^  «  m  M  «  o 


■♦  10  «  'TO  tN.  o  t^so 


-a 

(U 

3 

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c 
o 

CJ 


Co 
to" 


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W  rt 


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00  \0   »A00   Q    o  O  CO    « 

MfnOfnomioHtT-,  ,.    ,, 
w  w  moo  •*  **  Kvo  «  «  00  o» 


r«8?8^ 


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'^vo  n  to  o»  f**  m 

'«'  en  hv 


I  ■«<-oo  00  t^  »ovo  o-  r^  -*  •* 


vo  ro  tx  CO  10  10  -^"O  txco  00  ( 
to  « \o  tN.vo  ■*  g^vo  mo  o  » 

«    «    «VO    ■'J-CIVO    NNO    toVO    t 

loiototow  woo  loro'^o* 


vo  NO  «  m  to  o*  ■▼cp  M  m  e 
00  fooo  o  m  m  M  ^  M  o  c 
O  *o  o^\o  ■*  m  moo  m\o  ' 


t**  to  « 
NO    «   M 


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o  «  ■*■«*■>-  m  m  ► 
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tssvo  \o  moo  o«  w  m  ^  f 


M  M  -^  m^o  «  O  ■♦  m  o  t^ 
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Ni-te*»mMio      moc*-* 


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sio'ot{DS  am  sAbp 
JO  jsqranu  aSBiSAy 


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3uipud))B  sndnd 
JO  iaqiunu  33BJ3Ay 


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^^J  rnCTf-"  y  u  ■^CtOO  mm 
vo   O'N   tN,o   «00vo   H\0    CO* 

oo«o^t^t*»mo  OM  •*  mvo 
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t-  -^  ( 


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^ 


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1—4 

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4  00     M 

%  m  rs 

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M  vo  m  o*  rnoo  ^00  vo  00  t^  r^ 
00  to  o  ''J-  •*  m  tovo  «  m 


O  «  m  *  moo  00  t^vo  O  O 
t>.  '^^  moo  w  t>.  ■"4-  m  M  m  to 
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j::  ":«.«  —  .«:>.-.  o  r  «  rt  o  >»7^  u  C  *j  v  " 


5  <=  ^ 


133]  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  57 


APPENDIX  V  —  Corporal  punishment 

In  one  state,  New  Jersey,  the  teacher  is  forbidden  by  law  to 
inflict  corporal  punishment.  No  other  state  goes  to  this  length, 
but  Illinois,  Kansas,  Mississippi,  Montana,  Pennsylvania,  South 
Dakota,  Washington,  and  West  Virginia  specifically  prescribe  a 
penalty  for  excess  amounting  to  cruelty.  Legal  punishment  would 
be  meted  out  to  a  brutal  teacher  in  the  other  states  just  as  surely 
as  in  these,  but  resort  would  be  had  to  the  common  law  and  not  to 
a  statute.  Only  in  Arizona  is  there  formal  statutory  authority  for 
corporal  punishment,  but  whipping  has  been  the  common  mode  of 
discipline  in  school  from  time  immemorial ;  custom  legalizes  it,  and 
unless  forbidden  in  express  terms  the  teacher  does  not  need  the 
authority  of  a  special  permissive  law.  Judicial  decisions  to  this 
effect  have  been  made  in  Alabama,  Arkansas,  Connecticut,  Indiana, 
Iowa,  Maine,  Minnesota,  North  Carolina,  Pennsylvania,  Wisconsin, 
and  probably  in  other  states. 

Local  school  boards  have  always  the  implied  power  to  make 
regulations  for  the  order  and  discipline  of  their  respective  schools, 
and  three  states,  viz.,  Michigan,  New  York,  and  Pennsylvania, 
expressly  grant  them  this  power.  Acting  under  this  power, 
expressed  or  implied,  several  cities,  notably  New  York  city, 
Chicago,  and  Albany,  have  prohibited  absolutely  the  use  of  the 
rod.  The  same  is  true  of  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  except  in 
the  primary  grades,  and  in  them  whipping  must  not  be  inflicted 
unless  the  written  consent  of  the  parent  or  guardian  has  been  pre- 
viously filed  with  the  city  superintendent. 

Corporal  punishment  may  be  used  as  a  last  resort  and  under 
rigid  regulations  as  to  reports,  etc.,  in  a  great  many  cities,  among 
them  being  Baltimore,  Detroit,  Indianapolis,  Louisville,  Minne- 
apolis, New  Orleans,  Pittsburg,  Rochester,  St.  Louis,  San  Fran- 
cisco, Worcester,  and  Philadelphia. 


58  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  [134 


APPENDIX  VI  —  Teachers  pensions,  and  benefit  associations 

Voluntary  mutual  benefit  associations  for  temporary  aid  only 
exist  in  Baltimore,  St.  Louis,  Cincinnati,  Cleveland,  Detroit,  Chi- 
cago, Buffalo,  San  Francisco,  St.  Paul,  and  one  interstate.  These 
have  from  one  to  two  dollars  initiation  fee,  one  to  five  dollars 
annual  dues.  Special  assessments  of  one  dollar  each  are  made  in 
some  cases.  Benefits  in  sickness  range  from  fifty  cents  a  day  to 
ten  dollars  a  week ;  at  death  funeral  expenses  only  are  paid  in 
some  instances,  and  in  others  a  sum  equal  to  one  dollar  from  each 
member  of  the  association. 

Associations  for  annuity  or  retirement  fund  only  are  in  New 
York  city,  Boston,  and  Baltimore,  and  there  is  an  annuity  guild  in 
Massachusetts.  The  initiation  fees  reported  are  three  to  five  dol- 
lars; the  annual  dues  one  to  one  and  a  half  per  cent  of  salary  up 
to  eighteen  or  twenty  dollars.  The  annuity  is  from  60  per  cent  of 
salary  to  $600  a  year.  Time  of  service  required  for  retirement, 
from  2  to  5  years  with  disability,  from  35  to  40  years  without 
disability. 

Associations  for  both  temporary  aid  and  annuity  exist  in  Ham- 
ilton county  (Cincinnati),  Ohio ;  Philadelphia,  Brooklyn,  and 
District  of  Columbia.  Initiation  fees,  one  to  ten  dollars ;  annual 
dues,  five  to  forty  dollars ;  annuity,  five  dollars  per  week  to  $600 
a  year,  and  $100  for  funeral  expenses  in  case  of  death  ;  temporary 
aid  during  illness,  five  or  six  dollars  per  week ;  minimum  service 
for  retirement  —  with  disability,  3  to  5  years ;  without  disability, 
35  to  40  years. 

Pension  or  retirement  funds  are  authorized  by  state  legislation 
for  St.  Louis,  all  cities  in  California,  Brooklyn,  New  York,  Detroit, 
Chicago,  New  York  city,  all  cities  in  New  Jersey,  Cincinnati,  and 
Buffalo.  Dues,  one  per  cent  of  salary;  annuity,  $250  to  one-half 
of  salary;  minimum,  $300,  to  $1,200  maximum  ;  minimum  service 
—  with  disability,  20  to  35  years;  without  disability,  25  to  35  years. 


i35j 


ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION 


59 


APPENDIX  VII — United  States  railroad  mileage;  census  years 

i8jo-^o 


iSqo 

1880 

1870 

i860 

1850 

1840 

1830 

163  562.12 
26.12 

87  724-08 
17.49 

49  168.33 
12.75 

28  919.79 
9.20 

18  571.48 
3.71 

2  7SS-I8 
1. 61 

39.80 
.03 

Miles  per  10,000  population. 

APPENDIX  Will— Text-books;  selection  and  supply. 

In  a  few  states  text-books  do  not  form  a  specific  subject  of  legis- 
lation, but  local  boards  have  control  under  the  general  charge  of 
the  welfare  of  the  schools. 

In  most  states  legislation  regulates  the  selection  of  text-books. 

In  some  states  a  guaranty  is  required  from  publishers  to  supply 
books,  according  to  samples,  at  wholesale,  retail,  introduction, 
exchange,  mail  prices,  part  or  all,  for  a  term  of  years. 

In  fewer  states  the  school  boards  buy  and  sell  the  books  on  pub- 
lic account.  In  certain  states  boards  continue  to  own  the  books 
used  free  by  pupils.  Indigent  pupils  are  more  frequently  supplied 
at  public  expense. 

'  In  most  states  special  or  general  laws  give  cities  the  control  of 
the  details  of  their  school  administration,  including  text-books. 

Specific  penalties  are  expressed  in  certain  cases  for  using  other 
than  prescribed  books,  but  in  general  such  use  would  be  only  a 
violation  of  law,  to  be  dealt  with  as  it  occurred. 

State  superintendent  is  here  used  to  indicate  the  chief  officer  of 
the  state  schools. 

In  the  states  immediately  following,  individuals,  except  indi- 
gents, buy  their  books : 

Arizona. —  The  lists  are  fixed  for  4  years  by  territorial  board. 

Arkansas. —  The  list  is  fixed  for  3  years,  with  exceptions,  by  local 
board,  from  books  recommended  by  state  superintendent. 

California. —  The  state  prepares,  publishes,  and  sells  books  for 
primary  and  grammar  schools,  but  •  high  schools  supported  wholly 
by  local  effort  are  almost  free  of  the  law.  Penalty  for  using 
other  than  the  state  list,  forfeiture  of  one-fourth  the  apportionment 
from  state  funds.     Indigent  pupils  are  furnished  free. 

Georgia. —  County  board  fixes  list.  Unchanged  within  5  years 
except  by  a  three-fourths  vote  of  the  full  board.  Penalty,  teacher 
cannot  receive  pay  from  pupils  using  other  books. 


6o  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  [136 

Indiana. — A  state  board  selects  books  under  publishers'  guaranty. 
County  boards  may  fix  a  list  of  additional  books  for  high  schools 
for  6  years.  Books  are  bought  and  sold  by,  or  subject  to,  arrange- 
ment of  local  board,  and  become  private  property.  Districts  sup- 
ply indigents. 

Illinois. —  District  board  fixes  list  for  4  years.  Indigents  sup- 
plied free. 

Kentucky. —  County  board  of  examiners  fixes  list  for  5  years, 
with  publishers'  guaranty.     The  county  judge  furnishes  indigents. 

Louisiana. —  State  board  fixes  list  for  4  years,  with  limited  local 
discretion. 

Mississippi. —  The  county  school  board  adopts  a  series  of  books 
for  5  years  on  publishers'  guaranty.  Penalty,  pupils  without  the 
prescribed  books  in  any  branch  are  not  to  receive  instruction  in 
that  branch. 

Missouri. —  A  state  school-book  commission  fixed  a  list,  with 
publishers'  guaranty,  for  5  years  from  September  i,  1897,  to  be 
handled  through  dealers.  Indigents  are  supplied  from  local  con- 
tingent funds. 

Nevada. —  State  board  fixes  list  for  4  years.  Penalty,  forfeiture 
of  apportionment.     District  furnishes  indigents. 

New  Mexico. —  The  territorial  board  of  education  is  authorized 
to  fix  a  list  for  4  years  and  to  contract  with  publishers  and  sell  to 
counties.     Districts  furnish  indigents. 

North  Carolina. —  County  board  fixes  list  for  3  years,  with  pub- 
lishers' guaranty. 

Ohio. —  A  state  commission  fixes  a  list  on  publishers'  guaranty, 
from  which  local  boafds  fix  lists  for  5  years  (with  exception). 
Boards  may  buy  and  sell  to  pupils  or  arrange  with  dealers  to  sup- 
ply them.     Indigents  are  furnished. 

Oklahoma. —  Territorial  superintendent  fixes  a  list  for  5  years  on 
publishers'  guaranty. 

Oregon. —  State  board  fixes  a  list  for  6  years  on  publishers' 
guaranty. 

South  Carolina. —  State  board  fixes  a  list  for  5  years  on  pub- 
lishers' guaranty,  and  may  require  publishers  to  have  depositaries 
in  each  county,  or  county  boards  may  furnish  books  at  cost. 

Tennessee. —  County  superintendent  suggests  suitable  books. 

Texas. —  The  law  resembles  that  of  Missouri.  Penalty,  upon 
any  teacher  or  trustee,  $10  to  $50  for  each  offense.  Every  day  o£ 
violation  of  law  to  be  considered  a  separate  offense. 


137]  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  6 1 

Virginia. —  Two  books  of  John  Esten  Cooke  —  Virginia,  a  His- 
tory of  Her  People ;  Stories  of  the  Old  Dominion  —  are  prescribed 
by  law.     State  board  fixes  a  list. 

West  Virginia. —  A  contract  list  for  5  years  is  part  of  the  law  of 
1896,  with  exceptions.  County  school  book  boards  are  established 
by  act  of  1897.  Publishers  keep  books  with  local  depositaries  on 
account  of  district  building  fund.  Penalty,  on  every  officer  or 
teacher,  $3  to  $10  for  each  offense. 

Wyoming. —  A  convention  of  superintendents  fixes  a  list  for 
5  years. 

Th^  states  following,  regularly  or  through  stated  action,  author- 
ize provision  for  free  use  of  books  by  pupils : 

Colorado. —  District  boards  fix  list  for  4  years,  with  exceptions. 
Indigents  are  furnished  and,  on  popular  vote,  all  pupils,  free. 

Connecticut. —  State  board  may  fix  list  for  5  years.  Town  boards 
may  take  additional  action  and,  on  popular  vote,  furnish  free  text- 
books. 

Delaware. —  State  board  fixes  list ;  district  board  furnishes  free 
text-books. 

Idaho. —  Books  adopted  by  a  state  board  of  text-book  commis- 
sioners for  all  common,  graded,  and  high  schools  are  furnished  free 
by  the  district ;  under  contracts  with  publishers  for  6  years. 

Iowa. —  Local  boards  may  buy  and  sell  to  pupils  at  cost. 
County  uniformity 'can  be  fixed  for  5  years.  Text-books  are  fur- 
nished free  to  indigents,  and,  on  popular  vote,  to  all,  by  the 
district. 

Kansas. —  A  school  text-book  commission  (1897)  has  selected 
text-books  in  common-school  studies  for  five  years  and  contracted 
with  publishers  to  furnish  them  to  pupils  through  agencies  at  every 
county  seat.  On  popular  vote,  with  a  two-thirds  majority,  school 
boards  may  purchase  books  and  furnish  their  use  free  to  pupils. 
Penalty  for  using  other  text-books,  except  for  reference,  $25  to 
$icx),  with  or  without  imprisonment. 

Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island  (towns), 
New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania  (local  boards),  Maryland  (counties),  fur- 
nish free  text-books. 

Michigan. —  District  boards  furnish  books  to  indigents,  and,  on 
popular  vote,  to  all  pupils,  free. 

Minnesota. —  Local  boards  may  fix  a  list  for  3  to  5  years,  with 
publishers*  guaranty,  and  may  purchase  and  provide  for  loan  free 
or  for  sale  at  cost  to  pupils. 


62  ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION  [138 

Montana. —  A  state  board  of  text-book  commissioners  fixed  a 
list  for  6  years  to  be  handled  through  dealers,  with  publishers' 
guaranty.     Upon  vote  of  a  district,  free  text-books  are  furnished. 

Nebraska. —  Local  boards  furnish  books  free  ;  may  fix  list  with 
publishers'  guaranty  not  beyond  5  years.  A  local  dealer  may  be 
designated  to  handle  the  books  on  agreed  terms. 

New  York. —  Every  union  free  school  board  is  "  to  prescribe  the 
text-books  *  *  •?«•  and  to  furnish  the  same  out  of  any  money 
provided  for  the  purpose." 

Common-school  districts,  by  popular  vote,  may  furnish  indigent 
pupils. 

North  Dakota. —  Local  boards  may  furnish  free  text-books,  and 
must  on  popular  vote.  Contracts  must  be  for  3  to  4  years  with- 
out change. 

South  Dakota. —  A  county  board  of  education  is  required  to 
adopt  a  uniform  series  for  5  years,  to  be  furnished  through  desig- 
nated depositaries  under  publishers'  guaranty.  On  petition  of  a 
majority  of  electors,  a  school  corporation  must  arrange  for  free 
text-books. 

Utah. —  A  convention  of  superintendents  fixes  a  list,  except  for 
cities,  for  5  years,  on  publishers'  guaranty.  Penalty,  on  teacher, 
loss  of  eligibility.  Boards  of  education  are  authorized  to  furnish 
free  text-books,  and,  in  cities,  to  select  books. 

Vermont. —  County  authority  fixes  a  list  for  5  years  on  pub- 
lishers' guaranty.  On  popular  vote,  local  boards  furnish  free  text- 
books. ' 

Washington. —  The  state  board  of  education  fixes  a  list  for  5 
years  on  publishers'  guaranty.  Penalty,  on  district,  forfeiture  of 
one-fourth  the  apportionment.  Local  boards  furnish  indigents, 
and,  on  popular  vote,  all  pupils. 

Wisconsin. —  District  board  fixes  list  for  3  years.  Penalty  on 
every  member  of  the  board,  $50.  On  popular  vote,  books  are  fur- 
nished free  without  time  limitation  as  to  change. 


'i39] 


ELEMENTARY    EDUCATION 


63 


APPENDIX  IX  —  Average  total  amount  of  schooling  {expressed  in 
years  of  200  school  days  each)  each  individual  of  the  population 
would  receive  as  his  equipment  for  life,  under  the  conditions  exist- 
ing at  the  different  dates  given  in  the  table,  and  counting  in  the 
work  done  by  all  grades  of  both  public  and  private  schools  and 
colleges 


1870 

1880 

1890 

1891 

1892 

1893 

1894 

189s 

1896 

1897 

1898 

3.36 

3-96 

4.46 

4-Si 

4-49 

4-52 

4.72 

4-75 

4-83 

4.91 

5 -ox 

North  Atlantic  Division 

South  Atlantic  Division 

South  Central  Division 

North  Central  Division 

S.06 
1.23 

1 .12 
4.01 

3-s6 

5.69 

2.32 

1.86 
4.6s 
4-17 

6.05 

2-73 
2.42 

5  36 
4-57 

6.1S 
2.78 
2.62 

5-35 
4.71 

6.18 
2.74 
2.69 
5. 21 
S.07 

6.10 
2.79 
2.64 
5.38 
4-93 

6.3s 

2:11 
5-57 
5.01 

6.47 
2.9s 
2.65 
S.69 
S-43 

6.52 
2-93 
2.70 
S-84 
S.46 

6.64 
3 -05 
2-75 
5.87 
S-SS 

6.76 
3-14 
2.95 
5-87 
S-77 

Average  total  amount  of  schooling  per  inhabitant y  etc.,  considering 
only  the  public  elem.entary  and  secondary  schools,  and  expressed  as 
before  in  years  of  200  school  days  each 


X870 

1880 

1890 

1891 

1893 

1893 

1894 

189s 

1896 

1897 

1898 

United  States 

a. 91 

3-45 

3-85 

3-93 

3-97 

3-99 

4-17 

4.23 

4.28 

4-37 

446 

North  Atlantic  Division 

South  Atlantic  Division 

South  Central  Division 

North  Central  Division 

^•53 

.80 

.80 

3-71 

2.77 

4.84 
1.90 
1-57 
4.19 
3-57 

4-99 
2.42 
2.20 

5.06 
2.46 
2.31 
4-74 
4.16 

S.io 
2.46 
2.41 
4-7S 
4-47 

S.IO 
2.51 
2.38 
4.84 
4-39 

S.28 
2.70 

2-59 
5.00 

4-45 

S-47 
3.68 
2-59 
5-15 
4.87 

5-52 
3.66 
2-44 

5-21 

4-95 

S.61 
2.78 
2.49 
S.28 
5.02 

2.87 
2.68 

S-2S 
S-2S 

Note.  —  The  figures  of  this  table  for  the  ^ears  previous  to  the  curreat  year  have  been  revised 
Jind  differ  slightly  from  those  heretofore  published. 


Department   of  Education 

FOR  THE 

United    States    Commission    to    the    Paris    Exposition    of    1900 


MONOGRAPHS    ON     EDUCATION 

IN   THE 

UNIXKD      STACKS 

EDITED  BY 

NICHOLAS  MURRAY  BUTLER 
Professor  of  Philosophy  and  Education  in  Columbia  University,  New  York 


SECONDARY    EDUCATION 


ELMER  ELLSWORTH  BROWN 
Professor  of  Education  in  the  University  of  California 


This  Monograph  is  contributed  to  the  United  States  Educational  Exhibit  by  thb 

State  of  New  York 


SECONDARY  EDUCATION 


One  could  not  expect  to  find  distinctively  American  insti- 
tutions among  the  colonists  of  the  seventeenth  century. 
There  was  as  yet  no  distinctively  American  character.  Two 
opposing  influences  were  at  work  shaping  the  colonial  life : 
the  first  was  the  spirit  of  protest  against  European  institu- 
tions, which  many  of  the  colonists  had  brought  with  them 
from  the  Old  World ;  the  second  was  the  ever-present 
instinct  of  imitation.  Real  American  schools  might  be 
expected  to  develop  with  the  development  of  real  American 
nationality.  In  the  beginning,  there  could  be  only  such 
schools  as  might  arise  under  the  mingled  influence  of  a 
desire  to  be  like  the  mother-country  and  a  desire  to  be 
different. 

We  find,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  history  of  American  sec- 
ondary education  presenting  three  pretty  well-defined  types 
and  stages  of  development.  There  is,  first,  the  colonial 
period,  with  its  Latin  grammar  schools ;  secondly,  the  period 
extending  from  the  revolutionary  war  to  the  middle  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  during  which  the  attempt  was  made  to 
solve  the  problem  of  American  secondary  education  by 
means  of  the  so-called  academy ;  and,  thirdly,  the  succeeding 
period  down  to  the  present  time,  chiefly  characterized  by  the 
upgrowth  of  public  high  schools. 

The  specific  influences  which  most  vitally  influenced  the 
early  development  of  secondary  education  in  America  were, 
on  the  one  hand,  the  example  of  the  "  grammar  schools  "  of 
old  England ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  rising  spirit  of 
democracy,  in  large  measure  Calvinistic  as  to  its  modes 
of  thought,  and  in  touch  with  movements  in  the  Calvin- 
istic portions  of    Europe. 


4  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  [144 


THE    BEGINNINGS 

Early  in  the  history  of  the  colony  of  Virginia,  funds  were 
raised  and  lands  set  apart  for  the  endowment  of  a  Latin 
grammar  school.  But  these  promising  beginnings  were 
swept  away  by  the  Indian  massacre  of  1622,  and  the  school 
seems  never  to  have  been  opened.  The  town  of  Boston,  in 
the  Massachusetts  Bay  colony,  set  up  a  Latin  school  in  1635, 
which  has  had  a  continuous  existence  down  to  the  present 
time.  This  school  was  established  by  vote  of  the  citizens  in 
a  town  meeting.  It  was  supported  in  part  by  private  dona- 
tions, arid  in  part  by  the  rent  of  certain  islands  in  the  harbor, 
designated  by  the  town  for  that  purpose.  A  town  rate  seems 
also  to  have  been  levied  when  necessary  to  make  up  a  salary 
of  £^0  a  year  for  the  master. 

Other  Massachusetts  towns  soon  followed  the  example  of 
Boston.  The  money  for  the  support  of  these  schools  was 
obtained  in  a  variety  of  ways.  School  fees  were  commonly 
but  not  universally  collected.  A  town  rate,  which  was 
depended  upon  at  first  only  to  supplement  other  sources  of 
revenue,  gradually  came  to  be  the  main  reliance  ;  and  by  the 
middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  most  of  the  grammar 
schools  of  Massachusetts  charged  no  fee  for  tuition. 

Latin  schools  were  early  established  in  the  colonies 
included  in  the  territory  of  the  present  state  of  Connecti- 
cut:  one  at  New  Haven  in  1641,  and  one  at  Hartford  not 
later  than  1642.  A  notable  bequest  left  by  Edward  Hop- 
kins, sometime  governor  of  Connecticut  colony,  whose  later 
years  were  passed  in  England,  became  available  soon  after 
the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century.  The  greater  part  of 
it  was  devoted  to  the  maintenance  of  Latin  grammar  schools 
in  Hartford  and  New  Haven,  and  also  in  the  towns  of  H ad- 
ley  and  Cambridge  in  Massachusetts. 

The  Dutch  at  New  Amsterdam  —  now  New  York  — 
opened  a  Latin  school  in  1659.  This  school  was  continued 
for  some  years  after  the  colony  passed  under  English  rule. 
Secondary  schools  were  established  in  the  colony  of  Penn- 


145]  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  5. 

sylvania  in  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century.  One 
of  these,  the  William  Penn  Charter  School,  at  Philadelphia, 
has  continued  down  to  the  present  day.  King  William's 
school,  at  Annapolis,  was  erected  by  the  legislature  of  Mary- 
land in  1696.  Similar  schools  were  from  time  to  time  estab- 
lished in  different  sections  of  the  same  colony.  The 
eighteenth  century  saw  schools  of  like  character  opened, 
partly  by  legislative  enactment,  partly  by  private  initiative, 
in  these  and  in  the  remaining  colonies.  Some  of  the  num- 
ber, like  the  University  Grammar  School  in  Rhode  Island 
and  the  Free  School  at  New  York,  were  either  the  fore- 
runners or  the  accompaniments  of  colonial  colleges. 

Not  only  were  these  several  schools  opened  during  the 
colonial  period:  important  beginnings  were  made  also  in 
the  organization  of  colonial  systems  of  secondary  educa- 
tion. The  Puritan  colony  of  Massachusetts  took  the  lead 
in  this  movement.  In  1647  the  colonial  legislature  decreed 
that  an  elementary  school  should  be  maintained  in  every 
town  having  a  population  of  fifty  families ;  and  that  in 
every  town  having  one  hundred  families  there  should  be 
a  grammar  school,  in  which  the  students  might  be  fitted 
for  admission  to  the  university. 

This  liberal  provision  was  soon  copied  by  the  neigh- 
boring colonies  of  Connecticut  and  New  Hampshire.  In 
Connecticut  the  provision  was  afterwards  changed  to  a 
requirement  of  a  grammar  school  in  each  county  town. 
These  New  England  colonies  maintained  and  enforced 
^uch  provisions  regarding  grammar  schools,  with  varying 
degrees  of  strictness,  to  be  sure,  down  to  and  even  after 
the  revolutionary  war.  Maryland  established  by  law  a 
system  of  county  grammar  schools,  thus  keeping  pace 
with  the  more  northern  colony  of  Connecticut. 

The  interest  in  secondary  education  declined  and  many 
schools  fell  into  decay  as  the  revolutionary  period 
approached.  When  the  colonies  were  transformed  into 
states,  after  the  declaration  of  independence,  the  four  sys- 
tems of  schools  mentioned  above  were  continued  with  little 


6  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  [146 

change.     No  other  of  the  thirteen  states  had  anything  that 
could  be  called  a  system  of  public  instruction. 

COLONIAL    SCHOOLS 

The  chief  emphasis  in  these  schools  was  laid  on  the 
preparation  of  future  collegians  to  pass  the  college  entrance 
examination.  The  most  of  the  schools  were  in  this  sense 
"  preparatory  "  or  "  fitting  "  schools.  The  requirements  for 
admission  to  college  determined  their  course  of  study.  In 
the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century,  the  requirements  of 
Harvard  college,  which  fixed  the  scholastic  standard  for 
New  England,  are  stated  as  follows :  "  When  scholars  had 
so  far  profited  at  the  grammar  schools  that  they  could  read 
any  classical  author  into  English,  and  readily  make  and 
speak  true  Latin,  and  write  it  in  verse  as  well  as  prose ;  and 
perfectly  decline  the  paradigms  of  nouns  and  verbs  in  the 
Greek  tongue,  they  were  judged  capable  of  admission  in 
Harvard  college."  A  century  later,  the  requirements  of 
Princeton  college,  which  profoundly  influenced  the  second- 
ary schools  of  the  middle  states,  were  described  in  these 
words  :  "  Candidates  for  admission  into  the  lowest  or  fresh- 
man class  must  be  capable  of  composing  grammatical  Latin, 
translating  Virgil,  Cicero's  Orations,  and  the  four  Evangelists 
in  Greek ;  and  by  a  late  order  *  *  *  must  understand 
the  principal  rules  of  vulgar  arithmetic." 

The  colonial  grammar  schools  taught  accordingly  Latin, 
and  a  little  Greek.  They  gave  instruction  in  religion  ;  but 
little  else  was  added  to  the  classical  languages. 

Social  grades  were  pretty  sharply  distinguished  in  the 
colonies.  The  grammar  schools  and  colleges  were  intended 
especially  for  the  directive  and  professional  classes.  They 
had  little  if  any  connection  with  such  elementary  schools  as 
there  were.  In  Massachusetts,  towns  which  maintained 
grammar  schools  were  not  required  to  maintain  reading 
schools.  Sometimes  pupils  were  taught  to  read  in  grammar 
schools.  But  the  grammar  school  teachers  objected  to  this 
burden  ;  and  the  mixing  of  the  two  grades  of  instruction  in 


147]  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  7 

one  school  was  recognized  as  an  evil.  There  seems  to  have 
been  no  middle  grade  of  school,  answering  to  the  needs  of  a 
middle  class  in  society.  And  for  girls  there  was  no  provision 
whatever  beyond  occasional  instruction  in  the  merest  rudi- 
ments of  learning. 

In  the  colleges,  the  ecclesiastical  spirit  and  purpose  was 
paramount.  The  students  were  for  the  most  part  preparing 
for  the  clerical  vocation  in  some  one  of  the  Protestant 
denominations.  But  naturally  only  a  part  of  the  students  in 
the  grammar  schools  showed  the  disposition  and  the  aptitude 
to  pursue  classical  studies  and  enter  the  profession  to  which 
they  led.  The  grammar  schools  exercised  a  kind  of  selective 
function,  discovering  latent  capacity  for  the  higher  studies 
and  starting  talented  youth  on  the  way  to  college.  Those' 
who  showed  capacity  of  a  lower  grade  or  of  a  different  sort 
seem  to  have  received  but  little  attention  or  encouragement 
in  the  schools  of  that  day. 

A    TIME    OF    TRANSITION 

As  we  approach  the  revolutionary  period,  we  find  new 
social  conditions  giving  rise  to  a  new  order  of  schools.  In 
the  earlier  days  there  had  been,  in  most  of  the  colonies,  a 
close  connection  between  ecclesiastical  and  political  func- 
tions. With  the  growth  of  sectarian  differences,  there 
appeared  a  decided  tendency  toward  the  separation  of  gov- 
ernmental from  ecclesiastical  affairs.  The  grammar  schools 
and  colleges  had  been  established  for  the  public  good  as 
represented  in  both  church  and  commonwealth.  They  had 
been  founded  and  maintained  by  a  remarkable  combination 
of  governmental,  ecclesiastical,  and  private  agency.  Some 
of  the  colonies  must  be  reckoned  among  the  foremost  of 
modern  societies  to  exemplify  direct  governmental  participa- 
tion in  educational  affairs.  But  as  governmental  and  eccle- 
siastical interests  drew  apart,  the  position  of  educational 
institutions  was  disturbed.  This  change  tended  to  lessen 
the  prestige  of  colonial  systems  of  education  among  the 
more  zealous  adherents  of  the  several  religious  denomina- 


8  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  [148 

tions.  At  the  same  time,  a  growing  distrust  of  the  colleges 
appeared  among  those  who  were  most  in  accord  with  the 
secularizing  tendency  of  the  time.  These  influences  com- 
bined with  many  others  to  weaken  the  old  grammar  schools. 
In  their  stead  there  grew  up  a  new  type  of  secondary  school, 
commonly  known  as  the  academy.  For  two  or  three  genera- 
tions following  the  revolutionary  period  this  type  was  in 
the  ascendancy.  The  effort  to  solve  the  problem  of  sec- 
ondary education  by  this 'means  ultimately  failed.  But  the 
academy  nevertheless  occupies  a  place  of  great  significance 
in  the  history  of  our  educational  institutions. 

THE    ACADEMIES 

Both  the  name  and  the  character  of  the  new  institu- 
tion were  suggested  by  English  precedents.  In  England, 
dissenters  from  the  established  religion  were  excluded  from 
both  grammar  schools  and  universities.  In  the  latter  part  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  following  a  suggestion  of  Milton, 
the  non-conformist  bodies  proceeded  to  establish  so-called 
academies.  These  schools  were  in  the  main  of  second- 
ary grade.  Yet  they  undertook  to  prepare  candidates  for 
the  clerical  office  in  non-conformist  congregations ;  and 
they  offered  a  wide  range  of  literary  and  scientific  studies, 
in  free  imitation  of  the  universities.  They  even  afforded 
instruction  in  some  studies,  chiefly  of  a  technical  and  prac- 
tical character,  not   commonly  taught    in   the   universities. 

The  American  colonists  were,  many  of  them,  in  close  rela- 
tions with  various  bodies  of  English  dissenters ;  and  the 
fame  of  the  English  academies  would  seem  to  have  influ- 
enced their  thought  in  the  matter  of  public  education.  At 
one  time,  the  strong  theological  bent  of  their  English  proto- 
types reappeared  in  the  new  American  schools ;  at  another 
time,  the  resemblance  was  more  obvious  in  the  range  and 
character  of  the  studies  offered.  But  the  American  acade- 
mies soon  came  to  have  a  well-defined  character  of  their 
own,  apart  from  any  conscious  imitation  of  English  models. 

As  early  as  the  year  1 726,  a  school  for  classical  and  theo- 


149]  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  9 

logical  Studies  was  established  by  the  pastor  of  a  Presby- 
terian congregation  at  Neshaminy,'in  Pennsylvania.  It  was 
described  by  a  visitor  as  an  "  academy  "  ;  but  was  more  com- 
monly known  as  the  "  Log  College,"  in  allusion  to  the  fact 
that  it  was  conducted  in  a  small  building  made  of  logs. 
This  school  in  the  wilderness  was  the  center  of  deep  and 
widespread  interest  in  classical  studies  as  well  as  in  the 
religious  life.  It  sent  out  large  numbers  of  zealous  pastors 
and  teachers,  who  established  "  log  colleges "  all  over  the 
highlands  of  the  middle  and  southern  colonies.        > 

Through  the  efforts  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  a  school  was 
established  at  Philadelphia,  legally  incorporated  as  an  acad- 
emy in  1753,  which  was  probably  the  first  institution  in 
America  to  be  formally  designated  by  that  title.  It  was 
under  the  control  of  a  self-perpetuating  board  of  trustees. 
A  fund  was  raised  by  private  subscription  for  its  establish- 
ment and  maintenance.  This  was  supplemented  by  a  grant 
from  the  city  treasury  and  by  tuition  fees.  But  fees  were 
remitted  in  the  case  of  those  who  were  unable  to  pay.  This 
academy  was  organized  in  three  departments  or  schools ; 
viz.,  the  Latin,  the  English,  and  the  mathematical.  The 
theological  element  was  not  prominent  here.  Much  stress 
was  laid  on  the  teaching  of  the  English  language  and  litera- 
ture, and  the  mathematical  sciences.  The  school  ultimately 
developed  into  the  University  of  Pennsylvania. 

Within  two  or  three  decades  from  the  founding  of  this 
school  at  Philadelphia,  a  number  of  schools  somewhat  simi- 
lar in  character,  and  some  of  them  bearing  the  name 
academy,  were  established  in  the  middle  and  southern  colo- 
nies. The  new  movement  received  fresh  incentive  and 
definiteness  of  direction  from  the  establishment  of  the  two 
Phillips  academies,  one  at  Andover  in  Massachusetts  and 
the  other  at  Exeter  in  New  Hampshire,  incorporated,  the 
former  in  1780  and  the  latter  in  1781.  These  schools,  well 
endowed,  and  conducted  under  self-perpetuating  boards  of 
trustees,  were  the  pioneers  of  a  long  line  of  similar  estab- 
lishments in   New  England.     Their  influence  extended  to 


lO  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  [15O 

remote  states,  especially  in  the  growing  west ;  and  they  rank 
to-day  among  the  strongest  and  most  influential  of  our  sec- 
ondary schools.  ^ 

STATE    SYSTEMS 

Soon  after  the  close  of  the  revolutionary  war,  new  state 
systems  of  education  began  to  be  established,  in  which 
special  provision  was  made  for  secondary  schools.  The 
earliest  and  most  remarkable  of  these  was  the  University  of 
the  State  of  New  York,  erected  in  1 784  and  remodeled  in 
1787.  This  institution  is  a  notable  example  of  the  strong 
and  increasing  influence  which  French  thought  then  exer->- 
cised  in  American  affairs.  The  conception  of  a  university 
put  forth  by  Diderot  and  others  of  the  great  French  writers 
of  the  latter  half  of  the  eighteenth  century,  was  first  realized 
in  the  state  of  New  York.  The  New  York  university 
embraced  the  whole  provision  for  secondary  and  higher 
education  within  the  state,  with  the  exception  of  schools  of 
a  purely  private  character.  It  seems  to  have  been  intended 
at  the  outset  to  embrace  elementary  schools  as  well,  but 
these  were  organized  later  under  a  separate  administrative 
system.  The  university  was  placed  under  the  control  of  a 
board  of  regents,  consisting  of  the  governor  and  the  lieuten- 
ant-governor of  the  state,  ex  officio,  together  with  nineteen 
others,  elected  by  the  state  legislature.  At  first  this  board 
of  regents  had  been  identical  with  the  board  of  trustees  of 
Columbia  college.  But  this  arrangement  was  unsatisfactory 
for  many  reasons :  because  of  the  ecclesiastical  character  of 
the  college,  for  one  thing ;  and  also  because  of  the  growing 
belief  that  the  interests  of  the  college  were  distinct  from, 
if  not  opposed  to,  those  of  the  new  academies.  The  reor- 
ganization of  1787  accordingly  made  the  board  of  regents 
a  body  distinct  from  the  trustees  of  any  institution  included 
in  the  university.  The  trustees  were  to  exercise  control 
over  their  several  institutions.  But  this  control  was  made 
subject  to  the  general  and  not  at  all  rigorous  supervision 
of  the  regents. 


151]  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  II 

In  181 3  the  legislature  of  the  state  established  a  perma- 
nent fund  known  as  the  literature  fund,  the  income  of 
which  was  to  be  applied  wholly  to  the  support  of  secondary- 
schools.  The  distribution  of  this  fund  was  made  subject  to 
the  control  of  the  regents  of  the  university. 

This  university  set  up  by  the  state  of  New  York  appealed 
to  the  imagination  of  men  by  its  comprehensiveness  and 
novelty.  It  exercised  great  influence  on  later  systems  ;  but 
only  one  state  and  one  territory  seem  to  have  modeled  their 
scheme  of  public  instruction  after  the  New  York  pattern. 
An  act  of  the  legislature  of  Georgia,  passed  in  1785,  pro- 
vided that  "  All  public  schools  instituted,  or  to  be  supported 
by  funds  or  public  moneys  in  this  state,  shall  be  considered 
as  parts  or  members  of  the  university."  But  the  university 
of  Georgia  never  realized  the  large  and  liberal  plan  pro- 
posed for  it. 

In  the  territory  of  Michigan,  an  act  was  passed  in  181 7 
instituting  a  university  of  imposing  character.  The  presi- 
dent and  professors  of  this  institution  were  empowered  "  to 
establish  colleges,  academies,  schools,  libraries,  museums, 
athenaeums,  botanical  gardens,  laboratories  and  other  useful 
literary  and  scientific  institutions  *  *  *  throughout  the 
various  counties,  cities,  towns,  townships,  and  other  geo- 
graphical divisions  of  Michigan."  As  may  be  supposed, 
this  establishment  existed  mainly  on  paper.  Yet  it  should 
be  noted  that  before  the  act  was  repealed,  in  1821,  there  had 
been  opened  under  its  provisions  a  college,  a  classical  school, 
and  several  primary  schools. 

But  although  the  comprehensive  type  of  university 
organization  was  not  widely  adopted,  there  was  a  general 
desire  in  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century  to  establish 
complete  and  well-rounded  systems  of  public  instruction. 
Primary  education  was  still  all  too  largely  neglected.  In 
the  state  systems  which  were  from  time  to  time  devised, 
emphasis  was  laid  at  one  time  upon  secondary  schools,  at 
another  upon  institutions  of  higher  learning.  Some  of  the 
best   thought  of  our  political  leaders  was  devoted  to  the 


12  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  [152 

problem  of  devising  systems  which  should  meet  the  needs 
of  our  rapidly  growing  states  in  all  of  the  several  grades  of 
instruction. 

The  legislature  of  Tennessee  declared,  in  1817,  that, 
"  Institutions  of  learning,  both  academies  and  colleges, 
should  ever  be  under  the  fostering  care  of  this  legislature, 
and  in  their  connection  with  each  other  form  a  complete 
system  of  education." 

Even  more  significant  is  the  provision  of  the  constitution 
of  Indiana,  adopted  in  1816,  that,  "  It  shall  be  the  duty  of 
the  general  assembly,  as  soon  as  circumstances  will  permit, 
to  provide  by  law  for  a  general  system  of  education,  ascend- 
ing in  regular  gradation  from  township  schools  to  a  state 
university  wherein  tuition  shall  be  gratis  and  equally  open 
to  all." 

For  the  most  part,  however,  actual  state  agency  in  sec- 
ondary education  was  as  yet  limited  to  the  subsidising  of 
privately  managed  academies.  In  Massachusetts,  the  pro- 
vision for  grammar  schools  under  town  control  was  continued 
after  the  colony  became  a  state.  But  the  law  was  so  changed 
that  only  the  larger  towns  were  left  subject  to  this  require- 
ment. At  the  same  time  academies  established  by  private 
initiative  were  endowed  by  the  legislature  with  grants  of 
public  lands.  The  state  assumed  no  control  whatever  over 
the  academies  which  it  thus  subsidised. 

In  Kentucky,  the  state  legislature  granted  six  thousand 
acres  of  public  lands  to  an  academy  in  each  county.  In 
Pennsylvania,  colleges  and  academies  received  financial  aid 
from  the  state  for  many  years,  culminating  in  1838  in  a 
general  state  system  of  educational  subsidies.  Five  years 
later,  such  aid  was  discontinued.  In  others  of  the  states, 
the  granting  of  state  subsidies,  in  money  or  in  lands,  to  sec- 
ondary and  higher  schools,  was  customary  for  many  years. 
For  the  most  part,  there  is  but  little  of  system  or  consistency 
observable  in  the  distribution  of  such  aid ;  and  the  state- 
aided  institutions  were  not  subjected  to  any  sort  of  state 
control. 


153]  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  1 3 


CHARACTER    OF    THE    ACADEMIES 

The  type  of  secondary  school  which  grew  up  under  these 
conditions  demands  closer  consideration.  The  old  acade- 
mies were  generally  endowed  institutions,  organized  under 
the  control  of  self-perpetuating  boards  of  trustees  or  of 
religious  bodies.  They  were  established  for  the  most  part 
to  serve  the  need  of  a  wide  constituency  and  not  merely  of 
a  single  community.  They  were  often  located  in  small 
country  places.  Many  of  them  made  provision  for  boarders 
as  well  as  for  day  pupils. 

They  were  not  intended  in  any  especial  or  exclusive  sense 
for  the  training  of  future  members  of  the  learned  pro- 
fessions. Many  of  them,  to  be  sure,  as  time  went  on,  drew 
near  to  the  colleges  and  became  known  primarily  as  prepara- 
tory schools.  In  the  western  states,  colleges  were  often 
organized  with  preparatory  schools  attached  to  them,  and 
these  preparatory  schools  were  commonly  called  "acade- 
mies." But  such  was  not  the  earlier  purpose  of  the  acade- 
mies. They  were  largely  schools  for  the  middle  classes  of 
society,  and  sought  to  give  a  good  middle  grade  of  instruc- 
tion, with  only  occasional  or  subordinate  reference  to  college 
preparation.  They  answered  to  a  growing  desire  after 
learning  for  its  own  sake,  or  for  the  increased  efficiency  it 
would  give  in  other  than  professional  pursuits. 

The  training  which  they  offered  was  regarded  as  more 
"  practical "  than  that  of  the  colleges.  Their  course  of 
instruction  presented  a  wider  range  of  studies  than  that  of 
the  grammar  schools  ;  not  infrequently  wider  than  that  of  the 
colleges  themselves.  They  laid  new  stress  on  the  study  of 
the  English  language,  together  with  its  grammar,  rhetoric, 
and  the  art  of  public  speaking.  They  gave  instruction  in 
various  branches  of  mathematics,  often  including  surveying 
and  navigation.  They  made  important  beginnings  in  the 
pursuit  of  the  natural  sciences.  Natural  philosophy  (phys- 
ics) was  a  favorite  subject,  of  which  astronomy  constituted 
an  important  division.     Geography  was  also  taught ;  and  his- 


14  '  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  [154 

tory,  especially  the  history  of  Greece  and  Rome,  and  of  the 
United  States.  French  was  sometimes  taught ;  more  rarely 
German.  In  the  better  academies,  the  Latin  and  Greek 
languages  still  constituted  the  substantial  core  of  the  instruc- 
tion offered. 

In  the  earlier  days,  the  course  of  study  in  these  schools 
was  not  well  defined.  In  some  subjects,  especially  English, 
Latin,  and  mathematics,  a  good  degree  of  continuity  of 
work  was  apparently  maintained.  In  others,  classes  were 
formed  at  irregular  periods.  Many  young  men  who  were 
obliged  to  labor  on  the  farms  during  the  rest  of  the  year, 
would  attend  an  academy  during  the  winter  term,  and  the 
order  of  instruction  would  to  some  extent  be  arranged  with 
reference  to  their  needs.  There  was  necessarily  great 
diversity  among  the  different  institutions,  those  in  the  same 
state  or  even  in  the  same  county  presenting  great  differences. 
When  finally  definite  courses  of  study  were  laid  out,  they 
varied  in  length  from  three  to  four  or  five  •years. 

Parallel  courses  were  offered.  That  including  classical 
studies  and  covering  the  required  preparation  for  admission 
to  some  college  was  commonly  regarded  as  the  standard 
course  of  the  school.  Along  with  this  might  be  found  an 
English  course.  At  a  later  date,  a  scientific  course  was 
often  provided  in  place  of  or  in  addition  to  the  English 
course. 

The  religious  character  of  these  schools  should  be  noted. 
Many  of  them  were  established  by  religious  bodies.  It 
was  during  the  period  which  we  have  under  consideration 
that  Catholic  secondary  schools  began  to  appear  in  consid- 
erable numbers.  These  were  for  the  most  part  established  by 
the  several  teaching  orders.  The  Society  of  Jesus  founded 
institutions  of  secondary  and  higher  education  in  the  United 
States  after  the  revolutionary  war.  The  Brothers  of  the 
Christian  Schools  opened  their  first  school  in  America  at 
Montreal  in  1838;  and  soon  after  set  up  establishments 
within  the  United  States,  at  Baltimore  and  New  York. 
These  were  doubtless  of  elementary  grade  at  the  start ;  but 


155]  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  1 5 

the  brethren  extended  their  courses  after  a  time  to  include 
secondary  studies.  Many  conventual  schools  for  girls^were 
also  established,  and  it  became  no  uncommon  thing  for  them 
to  draw  a  large  clientage  from  other  than  Catholic  families. 

The  academies  established  by  Protestant  bodies  were  in 
some  instances  under  direct  ecclesiastical  control ;  but  more 
frequently  their  formal  connection  with  ecclesiastical  societies 
terminated  with  their  legal  incorporation.  They  were,  how- 
ever, generally  characterized  by  great  moral  earnestness,  on 
the  part  of  both  teachers  and  pupils ;  and  many  of  them 
were  remarkable  for  the  intensity  of  religious  life  which 
they  fostered.  The  religious  instruction  which  they  carried 
on  concerned  itself  for  the  most  part  with  the  broad  under- 
lying principles  of  Christianity,  avoiding  in  large  measure 
the  discussion  of  doctrines  upon  which  the  sects  of  Chris- 
tendom are  divided.  It  consisted  mainly  of  lessons  from  the 
King  James  version  of  the  Bible  —  both  the  Old  and  the 
New  Testament.  This  was  often  supplemented  by  instruc- 
tion in  moral  philosophy.  Thus,  the  non-Catholic  academies, 
even  such  as  had  arisen  from  the  initiative  of  religious  socie- 
ties, tended  toward  the  non-sectarian  character  which  has 
been  more  fully  exemplified  in  the  public  schools  of  later 
times. 

The  grammar  schools  had  been  exclusively  for  boys. 
Such  was  the  case  with  many  of  the  academies.  Others  of 
these  schools  were  co-educational.  With  the  increasing 
interest  in  education  for  women,  there  grew  up  a  large  num- 
ber of  academies  for  girls,  which  were  all  too  often  weighed 
down  with  the  title  of  "  female  seminary."  These  two  types 
of  secondary  education  for  girls  prepared  the  way  for  two 
types  of  institution  of  higher  education,  both  of  which 
appeared  in  the  fourth  decade  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
viz.,  the  co-educational  college  and  the  college  for  women 
exclusively. 

The  academies  aroused  and  ministered  to  a  strong  and 
widespread  desire  for  education.  They  greatly  broadened 
the  intellectual  horizon  of  families  and  communities.     They 


1 6  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  [156 

reinforced  the  protest  which  was  arising  against  the  too 
narrow  curriculum  of  the  American  colleges.  In  many  other 
ways  they  rendered  a  timely  and  most  efficient  service  in  the 
betterment  of  American  thought  and  life. 

One  specific  service  must  receive  separate  mention.  In 
the  absence  of  special  schools  for  the  training  of  teachers, 
the  better  elementary  schools  were  for  a  long  time  in  the 
hands  of  teachers  who  had  studied  in  the  academies.  In 
New  York  and  Pennsylvania,  this  service  of  the  academies 
received  recognition  at  the  hands  of  the  state  legislature. 
Special  classes  were  organized  in  these  schools  for  instruc- 
tion in  the  art  of  teaching.  A  seminary  for  teachers  was 
opened  in  connection  with  the  Phillips  academy  at  Andover. 
When  state  normal  schools  began  to  be  established,  in  Mas- 
sachusetts in  the  year  1839,  suggestions  for  their  organiza- 
tion and  management  were  drawn  from  this  seminary  and 
from  the  current  practice  of  the  academies. 

THE    HIGH    SCHOOL    MOVEMENT 

In  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century,  there  appeared 
in  the  several  American  states  a  strong  demand  for  schools 
under  the  exclusive  control  of  the  state  government.  Various 
influences  contributed  to  this  sentiment.  The  Calvinistic 
view  of  the  civil  power  had  apparently  prepared  the  way 
for  state  agency  in  education.  The  spirit  which  drove  the 
Jesuits  from  France  and  during  the  French  revolution  made 
education  a  part  of  the  program  of  democracy,  roused  an 
answering  spirit  in  America.  The  steadily  advancing  sepa- 
ration between  church  and  state  kept  alive  the  question  as  to 
the  relation  of  the  schools  to  both.  So  far  as  the  higher 
education  was  concerned,  it  seemed  to  be  the  well-estab- 
lished theory  that  the  state  should  grant  charters  to  col- 
leges, authorizing  them  to  manage  their  own  affairs  under 
close  corporations,  with  incidental  aid  from  the  state  in  the 
shape  of  gifts  of  land  or  money.  And  this  had  come  to  be 
the  prevalent  method  of  meeting  the  demand  for  secondary 
education.     But   the    notion    of   higher   institutions  chiefly 


157]  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  1/ 

supported  and  directly  controlled  by  the  state  now  began 
to  get  abroad. 

The  University  of  Virginia,  under  the  guidance  of  Thomas 
Jefferson,  led  the  way  to  the  realization  of  this  idea.  In  New 
Hampshire,  the  legislature  undertook  to  transform  Dartmouth 
college  into  Dartmouth  university,  without  the  consent  of  the 
college  corporation.  The  attempt  was  frustrated  by  a  decis- 
ion of  the  United  States  supreme  court.  This  decision  was 
of  the  utmost  importance  in  the  history  of  American  educa- 
tion as  well  as  of  American  jurisprudence.  It  declared,  in 
effect,  that  an  institution  founded  and  administered  as  was 
Dartmouth  college  was  a  private  corporation  ;  that  the  char- 
ter granted  it  by  the  state  was  in  the  nature  of  a  con- 
tract, and  accordingly  could  not,  under  the  constitution  of 
the  United  States,  be  altered  by  the  legislature  without  the 
consent  of  the  board  of  trustees.  This  decision  established 
the  inviolability  of  chartered  rights.  It  thus  gave  security 
and  stability  to  all  incorporated  institutions  ;  it  drew  also  a 
sharp  distinction  between  "  public "  and  "  private "  institu- 
tions, and  placed  the  most  of  the  then  existing  higher  and 
secondary  schools  in  the  latter  class.  These  schools  served 
a  public  purpose  and  were  open  to  public  resort.  They  were 
in  all  but  the  legal  sense  public  schools.  But  the  clear  defi- 
nition of  their  legal  status  served  to  strengthen  the  rising 
demand  for  schools  which  should  be  public  in  every  sense 
of  the  word.  The  growth  of  cities  and  many  other  causes 
combined  to  reinforce  this  demand. 

The  first  step  in  the  establishment  of  public  secondary 
schools  to  supplement  or  fill  the  place  of  the  academies 
was  taken  by  the  larger  towns  and  municipalities,  under 
the  lead  of  Boston.  The  new  institutions  were  a  direct  out- 
growth of  the  system  of  elementary  schools.  The  course 
of  study  in  these  schools  was  becoming  better  defined  and 
was  slowly  extending.  In  Boston,  it  was  extended  down- 
ward in  the  year  1818  to  include  primary  schools  in  which 
the  first  steps  in  reading  were  taken.  The  same  system  was 
extended  upward  in  1821  by  the  establishment  of  an  "  Eng- 


1 8  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  [158 

lish  classical  school,"  which  soon  took  the  name  of  "  English 
high  school."  The  name  seems  to  have  been  adopted  in 
imitation  of  the  high  school  of  Edinburgh.  There  had  been 
for  many  years  close  intellectual  sympathy  between  the  Mas- 
sachusetts town  and  the  Scotch  capital.  The  new  Boston 
school  differed,  however,  in  important  particulars  from  its 
namesake  in  Edinburgh.  The  ancient  languages  were  not 
included  in  its  curriculum.  It  did  not  employ  the  moni- 
torial method  of  instruction,  then  in  vogue  in  Edinburgh. 
But  the  two  schools  were  alike  in  this :  that  each  was  sup- 
ported and  controlled  by  the  municipality  and  was  an  object 
of  municipal  interest  and  pride. 

The  English  high  school  was  established  to  meet  the  needs 
of  the  middle,  and  especially  the  commercial,  classes.  Its 
course  of  study  was  three  years  in  length,  embracing  the 
English  language  and  literature,  mathematics,  navigation 
and  surveying,  geography,  natural  philosophy  (including 
astronomy),  history,  logic,  moral  and  political  philosophy. 
Latin  and  modern  languages  "were  added  later,  and  the 
course  extended  to  four  years.  Students  were  received  into 
the  high  school  from  the  elementary  schools  of  the  city,  but 
were  not  at  the  first  prepared  in  the  high  school  for  admis- 
sion to  college.  That  was  still  the  function  of  the  Latin 
school.  But  with  the  addition  of  foreign  languages  to  its 
course  of  study,  the  English  high  school  has  fitted  its  stu- 
dents for  admission  to  certain  higher  institutions,  and  particu- 
larly to  the  Institute  of  Technology.. 

Boston  was  still  a  town  when  she  set  up  her  English 
classical  school,  but  became  a  city  in  the  following  year. 
The  new  school  was  proposed  by  the  school  committee,  and 
was  approved  by  the  people,  assembled  in  town  meeting. 
Other  Massachusetts  towns  soon  followed  the  lead  of  Boston 
in  this  matter.  Philadelphia,  in  1838,  established  the  Cen- 
tral high  school,  under  special  authorization  from  the  Penn- 
sylvania legislature.  Baltimore  followed,  with  the  establish- 
ment of  a  "  city  college."  Providence  opened  a  public  high 
school    in    1843.     Hartford,  in    1847,   transformed  her  old 


159]  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  1 9 

grammar  school  into  a  school  of  the  newer  type.  New  York 
opened  a  "free  academy"  in  1848,  the  name  of  which  was 
afterwards  changed  to  "  the  College  of  the  City  of  New  York." 
This  school  was  established  in  accordance  with  a  special  act 
of  the  state  legislature,  ratified  by  vote  of  the  people  of  the 
city.  Other  high  schools  sprang  up  in  various  parts  of  the 
country  before  the  year  1850  —  in  Connecticut,  in  New  York, 
in  Ohio.  Since  that  time  the  movement  has  steadily  con- 
tinued, until  now  these  schools  are  found  in  every  state  in 
the  union,  in  cities,  in  smaller  towns,  and  even  occasion- 
ally in  thickly  populated  country  districts. 

The  zeal  of  communities  in  the  establishment  of  these 
schools  not  infrequently  outran  the  express  provision  of  state 
school  laws.  But  the  movement  encountered  hostility  from 
various  sources,  notably  from  those  who  regarded  the 
academy  as  the  final  or  best  solution  of  the  problem  of  pub- 
lic secondary  education,  and  from  those  who  were  opposed 
on  principle  to  the  recognition  of  secondary  education  as  a 
proper  field  for  governmental  agency.  The  legal  questions 
involved  in  this  latter  contention  were  brought  to  a  settle- 
ment in  the  supreme  court  of  Michigan,  in  what  is  com- 
monly known  as  the  "  Kalamazoo  case."  The  decision  of 
the  court  in  this  case  was  prepared  by  one  of  the  most  emi- 
nent of  American  jurists.  It  was  summed  up  in  the  words, 
"  Neither  in  our  state  policy,  in  our  constitution,  nor  in  our 
laws  do  we  find  the  primary  school  districts  restricted  in  the 
branches  of  knowledge  which  their  officers  may  cause  to  be 
taught,  or  the  grade  of  instruction  that  may  be  given,  if  their 
voters  consent,  in  regular  form,  to  bear  the  expense  and  raise 
the  taxes  for  the  purpose." 

This  case  not  only  settled  the  question  which  it  raised 
within  the  territorial  limits  of  the  state  of  Michigan.  It 
settled  also  the  general  policy  of  the  American  common- 
wealths in  this  matter.  The  opinion  of  the  court,  in  its 
ample  setting-forth,  made  clear  the  fact  that  American 
thought  and  purpose  were  moving  steadily  toward  a  com- 
plete  system    of  education,  under   full    public   control,    its 


20 


SECONDARY    EDUCATION  [l6o 


several  parts  well  knit  together  so  as  to  form  an  organic 
whole. 

But  in  several  of  the  states  the  people  were  not  left  to 
work  out  the  problem  of  secondary  education  in  the  isola- 
tion of  scattered  communities.  In  these  states,  well  ordered 
systems  of  secondary  schools  were  established  by  statute. 
As  early  as  1798,  Connecticut  authorized  the  opening  of 
higher  schools  by  the  local  authorities  (*'  school  societies  "). 
In  Massachusetts,  the  law  requiring  grammar  schools  in  the 
towns  was  so  far  weakened,  in  1824,  that  towns  having  a 
population  of  less  than  5,000  were  allowed  to  substitute 
therefor  an  elementary  school,  if  the  people  should  so 
determine  by  vote  at  a  public  election.  This  marks  the  low- 
est ebb  of  public  school  sentiment  in  the  Bay  state  —  at 
least  so  far  as  secondary  education  was  concerned.  The 
academies  were  then  at  the  height  of  their  prosperity.  But 
two  years  later  the  return  movement  set  in.  It  was  enacted 
that  every  town  having  five  hundred  families  should  provide 
a  master  to  give  instruction  in  history  of  the  United  States, 
bookkeeping,  geometry,  surveying  and  algebra ;  and  every 
town  having  four  thousand  inhabitants,  a  master  capable  of 
giving  instruction  in  Latin  and  Greek,  history,  rhetoric,  and 
logic.  The  young  state  of  Iowa  adopted  a  provision  in 
1849  expressly  permitting  the  adding  of  higher  grades  to 
the  public  schools;  and  in  1858  authorized  the  establish- 
ment of  county  high  schools.  In  New  York,  the  systematic 
grading  of  the  schools  went  steadily  forward ;  and  the 
"  academic  departments  "  of  these  schools,  corresponding  to 
the  high  schools  of  other  states,  formed  a  part  of  the  uni- 
versity of  the  state  of  New  York  and  received  financial  aid 
from  the  literature  fund.  In  Maryland,  the  county  acade- 
mies, which  had  displaced  the  grammar  schools  of  colonial 
days,  continued  for  many  years  to  receive  financial  aid  from 
the  state,  and  only  in  comparatively  recent  times  were 
merged  into  a  state  system  of  high  schools. 

Other  important  state  establishments  have  taken  shape  at 
so  recent  a  date  that  they  will  be  described  later  under  the 
account  of  present-day  systems  of  schools. 


l6l]  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  21 

THE  OLD  AND  THE  NEW 

We  have  seen  that  by  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury a  great  change  had  come  over  secondary  education  in 
the  United  States.  Two  aspects  of  the  new  order  of  things 
are  worthy  of  note  :  First,  the  position  in  which  it  placed 
the  old  academies ;  secondly,  the  tendency  which  it  marked 
toward  a  closing  up  of  gaps  in  the  system  of  public 
instruction. 

The  academies  had  long  been  the  ordinary  and  accepted 
agency  for  secondary  education.  They  had  provided  a 
general  training  for  the  great  body  of  students.  They  had 
also  drawn  near  to  the  colleges,  and  now  prepared  a  large 
proportion  of  the  candidates  for  admission  to  the  fresh- 
man class.  Private  schools  had  grown  up  which  paid 
especial  attention  to  fitting  boys  for  college ;  and  from  the 
earliest  times  many  had  received  such  preparation  at  the 
hands  of  private  tutors,  and  particularly  under  the  personal 
direction  of  clergymen.  But  the  academies  were  now  par 
excellence  the  preparatory  schools  of  the  country.  The 
growth  of  high  schools  had  taken  away  from  them  the  char- 
acter of  the  ordinary  provision  for  secondary  education. 
Many  of  them  declined  as  the  high  schools  advanced ;  many 
were  given  over  to  the  communities  in  which  they  were  con- 
ducted and  became  high  schools,  under  public  management. 
Those  that  survived  laid  more  and  more  stress  on  their  func- 
tion of  preparing  for  college.  A  goodly  number  of  these 
are  stronger  now  than  ever  before ;  and  new  schools*  of  this 
type  are  founded  from  time  to  time.  In  recent  years  the 
increase  of  wealth,  the  rise  of  new  social  distinctions,  dis- 
satisfaction with  the  colorless  religious  character  of  the 
high  schools',  and  many  other  causes,  have  caused  a  new 
demand  for  such  schools  to  arise.  They  prepare  for  col- 
lege, but  do  not  in  general  look  upon  this  as  their  sole 
function.  They  are  recognized  as  constituting  a  highly 
important  part  of  American  provision  for  public  education. 
While  the  high  schools  are  for  day  pupils  only,  the  acade- 


22  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  [l62 

mies  are  generally  boarding  schools.  They  afford  favorable 
ground  for  the  deep  rooting  and  vigorous  growth  of  tradi- 
tions of  culture  and  scholarship.  The  more  famous  of  them 
draw  students  from  long  distances,  and  accordingly  exercise 
a  widespead  influence  upon  Arnerican  educational  standards. 
The  high  schools,  on  the  other  hand,  are  an  evidence  of 
the  widespread  desire  in  America  for  complete  systems  of 
education  under  public  management.  The  impulse  which 
resulted  in  their  establishment  is  closely  related  to  that 
which,  especially  in  the  southern  and  western  states,  led  to 
the  founding  of  state  universities.  The  organic  connection 
between  the  high  schools  and  schools  of  elementary  grade 
has  already  been  noted.  At  the  first  there  was  a  recognized 
gap  between  the  high  schools  and  institutions  of  higher 
learning.  The  earliest  high  schools  were  intended  specifi- 
cally for  those  who  were  not  preparing  for  college.  But 
there  soon  appeared  a  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  public 
school  authorities  to  close  up  this  gap.  Studies  regarded  as 
distinctively  preparatory  to  college  were  from  time  to  time 
introduced  into  high  school  courses.  Of  these,  Greek 
had  and  still  has  the  most  precarious  hold  upon  public 
favor.  Yet  there  were  and  still  are  even  small  communi- 
ties remote  from  the  great  centers  of  wealth  and  learning, 
where  Greek  has  an  assured  and  honored  place  in  the 
high  school    curriculum. 

A    CONTINUOUS    SYSTEM    OF    PUBLIC    INSTRUCTION 

It  should  be  stated  here  that  well-established  American 
usage  now  recognizes  three  consecutive  stages  of  instruction, 
commonly  distributed  as  follows :  Eight  years  are  assigned 
to  the  elementary  school ;  four  years  to  the  high  school  or 
academy,  following  directly  upon  the  elementary  course  ; 
and  the  four  years  next  following  to  the  college,  which  offers 
finally  the  bachelor's  degree.  The  whole  course  from  the 
primary  school  to  the  first  degree  is  accordingly  sixteen 
years  in  length.  It  should  be  noted,  however,  that  there  is 
a  growing  disposition  to  recognize  the  first  two  years  of  the 


163]  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  23 

college  course  as  offering  instruction  which  is  essentially  of 
secondary  grade.  And  there  is  also  a  growing  demand  for 
the  introduction  of  secondary  studies  and  secondary  methods 
into  the  upper  grades  of  the  elementary  school  course. 

The  tendency  of  public  high  schools  to  assume  the  func- 
tion of  preparation  for  college  met  with  strong  opposition. 
It  was  claimed  that  this  service  could  best  be  rendered  by 
special  schools  conducted  for  that  express  purpose.  The 
discussion  of  this  question  has  brought  out  two  contrasting 
ideals  of  American  life,  and  has  shown  more  clearly  the 
nature  of  the  movement  which  called  the  high  school  into 
being. 

The  colonial  period  was  a  time  in  which  distinctions  of 
rank  were  still  fairly  well  defined  in  American  society. 
The  higher  schools  of  that  time,  intended  especially  for  the 
ruling  class,  had  no  organic  connection  with  the  lower 
schools.  The  secondary  schools  were  a  part  of  the  higher 
system,  and  had  little  or  nothing  to  do  with  the  lower. 

The  first  fifty  years  or  more  of  independence  was  a  time 
of  readjustment.  The  earlier  system  of  social  levels  was 
gradually  transformed  into  a  continuous  series  of  grada- 
tions. Society  became  an  inclined  plane,  as  it  were,  with 
free  and  open  passage  up  and  down  the  scale.  Every  school 
child  was  taught  to  consider  himself  as  started  on  a  way 
which  might  lead  to  the  highest  places. 

It  seems  inevitable  that  public  education  should  in  turn 
have  been  influenced  by  the  sentiments  which  it  had  helped 
to  form.  An  unlimited  system  of  public  schools  was  neces- 
sary to  the  realization  of  the  unlimited  aspiration  of  the 
people.  The  prevalent  instinct  slowly  rose  to  a  conscious 
determination  that  there  should  be  no  cul-de-sac  in  the  edu- 
cational systems  of  the  republic. 

THE    SCHOOLS    AND    THE    COLLEGES 

Even  when  the  high  schools  had  begun  to  prepare  their 
more  favored  students  for  college,  the  connection  between 
the  secondary  and  the  higher  institutions  was  not  so  close  as 


24  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  [164 

was  desired.  In  some  of  the  leading  states  of  the  east,  the 
chief,  or  indeed  the  only,  provision  for  higher  education  was 
in  institutions  managed  by  private  corporations.  In  many 
of  the  newer  states,  there  were  growing  up  universities  under 
full  state  control.  But  these  universities  were  supported  out 
of  funds  separate  from  those  devoted  to  the  common  schools, 
and  were  controlled  by  separate  administrative  boards.  The 
requirements  for  admission  to  college  were  determined  by 
the  college  faculties,  with  only  incidental  reference  to  the 
purely  educational  problems  confronting  the  secondary 
schools.  The  fitness  of  candidates  for  admission  was  deter- 
mined by  an  examination,  conducted  at  the  college,  by  col- 
lege instructors,  and  covering  the  requirements  which  the 
college  had  prescribed. 

This  system,  to  be  sure,  possessed  great  advantages.  It 
compelled  all  schools  which  undertook  preparation  for  a 
given  college  to  come  up  to  a  definite  scholastic  standard 
imposed  from  without.  It  exercised  no  authority  over  the 
schools,  but  exerted  an  influence  which  a  preparatory  school 
could  not  escape.  Besides,  the  standard  set  for  classes  pre- 
paring for  college  had  an  indirect  influence  on  classes  in  the 
same  school  which  were  pursuing  other  lines  of  study.  So 
the  most  powerful  single  agency  affecting  the  course  and  the 
methods  of  instruction  in  the  better  high  schools,  as  in  the 
academies,  was  for  many  years  the  entrance  examinations  of 
the  several  colleges. 

But  there  were  evils  attendant  upon  this  system.  When 
the  excellence  of  a  four-year  course  of  school  instruction  was 
to  be  tested  by  a  single  examination  at  the  end  of  the  course 
—  this  examination  being  conducted  by  the  instructors  in 
another,  and  often  a  remote  institution,  with  sole  reference 
to  the  plans  and  purposes  of  that  institution, —  it  was  inevi- 
table that  the  lower  school  should  become  merely  tributary 
in  all  essential  particulars  to  the  higher.  The  college  exam- 
ination became  the  chief  end  and  aim  of  much  of  the  work 
in  our  secondary  schools.  There  appeared  a  marked  ten- 
dency to  substitute  a  cramming  process  for  real  educational 


165]  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  25 

procedure.  Teachers  in  secondary  schools  were  too  largely 
turned  aside  from  independent  investigation  of  the  essen- 
tial problems  of  secondary  education,  to  the  more  petty 
inquiry  into  the  exact  nature  of  the  entrance  examinations 
at  certain  colleges.  It  was  clear  that  such  a  state  of  things 
did  not  answer  to  the  organic  continuity  of  instruction  which 
American  social  conditions  seemed  to  demand. 

The  attempt  to  correct  this  evil  has  taken  several  different 
directions.  Some  of  the  most  interesting  movements  affect- 
ing our  secondary  education  within  the  past  three  decades 
have  had  this  origin.  How  may  a  more  vital  relation  be 
established  between  secondary  schools  and  colleges,  which 
shall  conserve  the  highest  educational  interests  of  both  ? 
Such  is  the  general  question  for  which  a  solution  has  been 
sought. 

THE    "  ACCREDITING    SYSTEM  " 

One  of  the  earliest  and  most  noteworthy  attempts  at  its 
solution  is  the  so-called  accrediting  system,  introduced  by  the 
University  of  Michigan  in  1871.  Under  this  system,  the 
university  admits  to  its  freshman  class,  without  examination, 
such  graduates  of  approved  secondary  schools  as  are  espe- 
cially recommended  for  that  purpose  by  the  principals  of 
those  schools.  This  system  has  met  with  great  favor  and 
has  had  widespread  application.  The  United  States  com- 
missioner of  education  reported  in  1896,  that  there  were 
then  42  state  universities  and  agricultural  and  mechanical 
colleges,  and  about  150  other  institutions  in  which  it  had 
been  adopted.  It  depends  upon  a  purely  voluntary  agree- 
ment between  the  secondary  schools  and  the  higher  institu- 
tions. The  college  or  university  satisfies  itself  that  the 
secondary  school  applying  for  such  recognition  is  properly 
taught.  Usually  a  committee  of  the  faculty  is  sent  to 
inspect  the  school,  and  the  school  agrees  to  submit  itself  to 
such  inspection.  It  is  the  school  rather  than  the  individual 
that  is  examined  ;  and  the  inquiry  relates  chiefly  to  the  vital- 
ity, intelligence,  and  general  effectiveness  of  the  instruction. 


•26  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  [l66 

Hardly  any  two  institutions  follow  exactly  the  same 
method  in  the  practice  of  accrediting  schools.  The  Michi- 
gan system  provides  for  inspection  of  each  school  by  a  com- 
mittee of  the  faculty,  consisting  of  one  or  two  members. 
On  a  favorable  report  from  this  committee  the  school  is 
accredited  for  one,  two,  or  three  years,  according  to  the 
degree  of  established  excellence  which  it  presents.  With 
the  spread  of  the  system  to  other  institutions,  it  has  differ- 
entiated on  the  one  hand  in  the  direction  of  a  more  frequent 
and  thorough-going  inspection  of  the  schools,  and  on  the 
other  hand  in  the  direction  of  less  thorough  inspection  or 
none  at  all.  Perhaps  the  lowest  outcome  of  this  differentia- 
tion is  represented  by  the  announcement  of  the  authorities 
of  one  college  that  "  Students  bearing  the  personal  certifi- 
cates of  a  former  teacher,  concerning  studies  satisactorily 
completed,  will  be  given  credit  for  the  work  they  have 
done." 

On  the  other  hand,  the  highest  grade  of  efficiency  in 
university  inspection  is  found  in  such  a  system  as  that  main- 
tained by  the  University  of  California.  Here  the  accred- 
iting of  schools  is  in  the  charge  of  a  committee  of  the 
academic  senate,  representing  the  chief  departments  of 
instruction.  All  secondary  schools  within  the  state  which 
apply  for  accrediting  —  public  high  schools,  private  schools, 
and  institutions  under  corporate  or  ecclesiastical  manage- 
ment—  are  visited  each  year  under  the  direction  of  this 
committee  by  several  members  of  the  teaching  force  of  the 
university.  A  given  school  is  commonly  so  visited  and 
inspected  in  the  course  of  each  year  by  instructors  from 
each  of  the  university  departments  of  English,  Latin,  his- 
tory, mathematics,  and  physics.  In  some  instances,  the 
departments  of  Greek,  modern  languages,  chemistry,  and  the 
biological  sciences,  or  any  one  or  more  of  them,  may  be 
added  to  the  list.  In  other  cases,  the  visitor  from  the 
department  of  English,  for  example,  may,  by  special  arrange- 
ment, examine  the  school  for  the  Latin  department ;  and 
other  economical  combinations  are  made  from  time  to  time. 


167]  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  27 

The  heads  of  departments  visit  many  schools  in  person ; 
university  instructors  of  various  subordinate  grades  share  in 
this  labor;  but  so  far  as  possible  the  assignment  to  such 
duty  is  limited  to  persons  of  considerable  scholastic  experi- 
ence, and  experience  as  a  teacher  in  secondary  schools  is 
regarded  as  a  qualification  of  no  small  importance.  The 
men  who  go  out  for  the  purpose  of  such  visitation  are  at 
the  time  engaged  in  ordinary  university  instruction.  The 
loss  to  their  classes  from  the  interruptions  to  continuous 
work  which  their  occasional  absence  must  cause,  is  mini- 
mized by  various  devices.  The  expense  of  the  visitation  is 
borne  by  the  university.  A  school  may  be  "accredited" 
without  a  favorable  report  in  all  subjects,  but  the  report 
must  be  favorable  in  a  sufficient  number  of  lines  to  indicate 
that  the  school  is  a  real  educational  institution.  Superior 
excellence  in  a  single  isolated  department  is  not  regarded 
as  constituting  a  claim  to  a  place  on  the  university  list. 

The  purpose  of  a  well-considered  accrediting  system  is  not 
primarily  to  provide  a  means  whereby  applicants  for  admis- 
sion to  college  may  escape  a  dreaded  examination.  It  is 
rather  to  encourage  and  build  up  strong  and  efficient 
schools  of  secondary  grade.  This  result  the  system  has 
undoubtedly  tended  to  bring  about.  It  has  drawn  our  sec- 
ondary and  higher  grades  of  instruction  into  closer  articu- 
lation and  sympathy  one  with  the  other.  It  has  tended  to 
release  the  teachers  in  secondary  schools  from  the  domina- 
tion of  merely  formal  examination  requirements,  and  has 
turned  their  attention  to  vital  matters  in  the  domain  of 
education. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  system  has  had  and  still  has 
serious  disadvantages.  It  tends  to  foster  a  too  prevalent 
disposition  to  dispense  with  or  evade  all  tests  of  accurate 
scholarship  in  the  shape  of  definite  examinations.  It 
entails  a  heavy  burden  upon  the  higher  institution ;  it 
demands  large  expenditures  of  money  and  of  the  time  of 
university  instructors.  In  the  University  of  California,  the 
actual  cost  in  money  for  the  traveling  expenses  of  the  inspec- 


28  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  [l68 

tors  is  about  equal  to  the  salary  of  an  assistant  professor. 
The  aggregate  of  the  time  required  each  year  by  all  depart- 
ments for  the  purposes  of  the  examination  of  schools  is  not 
far  from  three  full  academic  years.  Counting  the  average 
salary  of  the  inspectors  as  that  of  an  associate  professor,  we 
have  here  an  approximate  total  cost  for  services  and  travel- 
ing expenses  of  between  $8,000  and  $9,000  annually.  It  is, 
moreover,  impossible  so  to  conduct  the  inspection  that  all 
departments  of  all  schools  shall  be  tried  by  uniform  or  even 
consistent  standards  of  excellence.  Nor  does  the  accrediting 
system  wholly  obviate  the  evil  of  subjecting  the  secondary 
schools  to  tests  and  influences  somewhat  foreign  to  the  real 
purposes  of  secondary  education.  It  cannot  be  regarded 
and  is  not  generally  regarded  as  a  final  solution  of  the  prob- 
lem with  which  it  deals.  But  it  marks  a  very  great  advance 
toward  that  end  ;  and  it  is  safe  to  say  that  its  present  advan- 
tages greatly  outweigh  its  obvious  disadvantages. 

SCHOOL    AND    COLLEGE    ASSOCIATIONS 

Parallel  with  the  later  development  of  the  accrediting  sys- 
tem, there  have  grown  up  important  voluntary  associations 
of  instructors,  in  which  representatives  of  the  colleges  meet 
with  representatives  of  the  secondary  schools  for  the  discus- 
sion of  topics  of  common  interest.  The  parent  society  of 
this  sort  is  the  New  England  association  of  colleges  and 
preparatory  schools,  organized  at  Boston  in  1885.  The 
object  of  this  association  was  declared  to  be,  "  The  estab- 
lishment of  mutually  sympathetic  and  helpful  relations 
between  the  faculties  of  the  colleges  represented  and  the 
teachers  of  the  preparatory  schools,  and  the  suggestion  to 
that  end  of  practical  measures  and  methods  of  work  which 
shall  strengthen  both  classes  of  institutious  by  bringing 
them  into  effective  harmony." 

This  organization  grew  out  of  a  previously  existing  state 
association  of  secondary  school  teachers  in  Massachusetts. 
It  in  turn  prompted  the  establishment  of  the  commission  of 
colleges  in  New  England  on  admission  examinations.    This 


169]  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  29 

commission,  formed  by  agreement  among  the  several  New- 
England  colleges,  and  possessing  no  authority,  has  by  its 
recommendations  done  much  to  unify  the  requirements  for 
college  matriculation.  Its  most  notable  achievement  has 
been  the  mapping  out  of  requirements  in  the  English  lan- 
guage and  literature.  It  has  made  important  recommenda- 
tions also  with  reference  to  courses  in  the  ancient  classics 
and  the  modern  languages. 

The  example  of  New  England  has  been  followed  by  other 
sections  of  the  country.  The  association  of  colleges  and 
preparatory  schools  in  the  middle  states  and  Maryland  came 
into  existence  in  1892,  growing  out  of  the  college  association 
of  Pennsylvania,  established  five  years  earlier.  The  north 
central  association  of  colleges  and  secondary  schools  was 
formed  at  Evanston,  Illinois,  in  1895  ;  and  the  association  of 
colleges  and  preparatory  schools  of  the  southern  states,  at 
Atlanta,  Georgia,  later  in  the  same  year.  State  organiza- 
tions somewhat  similar  in  character  are  found  in  a  number 
of  the  states,  as  in  New  York,  Ohio,  Tennessee,  Colorado, 
Michigan,  and  both  Dakotas. 

These  various  societies,  through  their  discussions  and  rec- 
ommendations, have  exercised  a  vast  influence  upon  the 
development  of  our  secondary  education. 

THE    COMMITTEE    OF    TEN    ON    SECONDARY    SCHOOL    STUDIES 

But  the  chief  landmark  in  the  recent  history  of  this  grade 
of  school  is  the  work  of  the  committee  on  secondary  school 
studies,  appointed  by  the  National  educational  association 
in  1892,  and  commonly  known  as  the  "committee  of  ten." 
This  committee  was  the  outcome  of  a  movement  within  the 
national  association  in  the  direction  of  uniformity  of  col- 
lege entrance  requirements.  Its  chairman  was  the  president 
of  Harvard  university.  In  its  membership  were  included 
the  United  States  commissioner  of  education  and  some  of 
the  foremost  representatives  of  both  secondary  and  higher 
education  in  America.  Not  limiting  itself  to  the  mechanical 
adjustment  of  relations  between  the  high  school  and  the  col- 


30  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  [170 

lege,  this  committee  proceeded  to  consider  the  problem  of  sec- 
ondary education  from  an  educational  point  of  view.  Nine 
sub-committees  of  ten  members  each,  were  appointed  to  pre- 
pare reports  on  the  several  ordinary  departments  of  sec- 
ondary school  instruction,  viz.,  Latin,  Greek,  English,  other 
modern  languages,  mathematics,  physics  (with  astronomy 
and  chemistry),  natural  history  (biology,  including  botany, 
zoology,  and  physiology),  history  (with  civil  government  and 
political  economy),  and  geography  (physical  geography, 
geology,  and  meteorology). 

The  committee  of  ten,  having  secured  carefully  prepared 
reports  from  its  sub-committees,  and  having  examined  a  large 
number  of  the  courses  in  actual  use  in  secondary  schools, 
drew  up  a  report  which  was  published  by  the  United  States 
government  in  December,  1893,  together  with  the  reports  of 
the  several  sub-committees.  The  contents  of  this  document 
may  be  briefly  summarized  as  follows  : 

In  all  of  these  discussions,  the  distribution  of  the  years  of 
school  life  now  generally  followed  in  the  educational  admin- 
istration of  the  American  states  is  assumed  as  a  datum.  The 
demand  for  an  earlier  introduction  of  secondary  school  studies 
is,  however,  reiterated  by  several  of  the  sub-committees.  They 
call  attention  to  the  disadvantage  to  students  pursuing,  for 
instance,  the  study  of  Latin,  which  results  from  postponing 
the  beginnings  of  that  study  to  the  ninth  year  of  the  school 
course,  when  the  student  has  already  passed  the  most  favor- 
able time  for  memorizing  paradigms  and  a  strange  vocabu- 
lary. The  committee  of  ten,  while  approving  strongly  of 
these  recommendations,  confine  their  proposals  to  improve- 
ments in  the  ordinary  four-year  secondary  course. 

After  discussing  the  principles  which  should  guide  in  the 
framing  of  courses  of  study,  the  committee  present  four 
sample  courses,  which  may  be  taken  as  illustrations  of  the 
application  of  those  principles.  These  sample  courses  are, 
however,  generally  regarded  as  the  least  successful  and  sig- 
nificant outcome  of  the  committee's  labors.  The  portions 
of  the  report  which  represent  the  most  mature  deliberation 


I/l]  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  3 1 

are  those  which  propose  general  principles  for  guidance  in 
the  making  of  such  courses. 

The  committee  lay  great  stress  on  the  correlation  of 
studies  in  secondary  schools  :  the  unifying  of  many  subjects 
into  a  well-knit  course  of  instruction,  through  the  recognition 
of  their  numerous  inter-relations.  They  endorse  the  unani- 
mous  recommendation  of  the  sub-committees  that  the  instruc- 
tion in  any  given  subject  shall  not  be  different  for  a  student 
preparing  to  enter  a  higher  institution  from  that  for  students 
who  go  no  further  than  the  high  school.  They  make  an 
urgent  plea  for  more  highly  trained  teachers.  They  declare 
against  a  multiplicity  of  "  short  information  courses,"  such  as 
have  been  given  in  many  high  schools  in  times  past :  a  dip 
into  one  science  followed  by  a  dip  into  another,  and  no  deep 
draught  from  any.  Instead,  they  recommend  that  such  sub- 
jects as  are  studied  be  pursued  consecutively  enough  and 
extensively  enough  to  yield  that  training  which  each  is  best 
fitted  to  yield.  They  would  have  continuous  instruction 
in  the  four  main  lines  of  language,  mathematics,  history,  and 
natural  science.  In  particular,  they  recommend  that  in  the 
first  tv/o  years  of  a  four-year  course,  each  student  should 
enter  all  of  the  principal  fields  of  knowledge,  in  order  that 
he  may  fairly  "  exhibit  his  quality  and  discover  his  tastes." 
They  recommend  the  postponement  of  the  beginning  of 
Greek  to  the  third  year,  in  order  that  the  student  may  not 
find  himself  at  the  bifurcation  of  the  course  into  classical  and 
Latin-scientific  courses,  before  he  is  ready,  or  his  advisers  suffi- 
ciently informed  as  to  his  capabilities,  to  make  an  intelligent 
choice.  The  committee  would  require  in  each  course  a 
maximum  of  twenty  recitation  periods  a  week ;  but  they 
would  have  five  of  these  periods  devoted  to  unprepared 
work  ;  and  would  reserve  double  periods  for  laboratory  exer- 
cises whenever  possible. 

Within  the  limitations  indicated  above,  as  to  continuity 
and  extensiveness  of  studies  in  each  of  the  broad  divisions 
of  knowledge,  the  committee  would  leave  to  the  individual 
student  and  his  advisers  the  largest  possible  freedom  in  the 


32  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  [172 

choice  of  studies.  With  reference  to  requirements  lor  admis- 
sion to  college,  the  committee  recommend  "  that  the  colleges 
and  scientific  schools  of  the  country  should  accept  for  admis- 
sion to  appropriate  courses  of  their  instruction  the  attain- 
ments of  any  youth  who  has  passed  creditably  through  a 
good  secondary  school  course,  no  matter  to  what  group  of 
subjects  he  may  have  mainly  devoted  himself  in  the  second- 
ary school."  Describing  more  exactly  what  might  be  con- 
sidered **  a  good  secondary  school  course  "  for  this  purpose, 
they  propose  that  it  shall  consist  of  any  group  of  studies 
from  those  considered  by  the  sub-committees,  "  provided 
that  the  sum  of  the  studies  in  each  of  the  four  years  amounts 
to  sixteen,  or  eighteen,  or  twenty  periods  a  week, —  as  may 
be  thought  best, —  and  provided,  further,  that  in  each  year 
at  least  four  of  the  subjects  presented  shall  have  been  pur- 
sued at  least  three  periods  a  week,  and  that  at  least  three  of 
the  subjects  shall  have  been  pursued  three  years  or  more." 

This  report  called  forth  a  very  active  discussion,  which  has 
not  yet  come  to  an  end.  The  definite  courses  of  study 
which  it  suggested  have  not  been  widely  adopted  ;  nor  have 
college  admission  requirements  been  made  uniform  in  the 
manner  which  it  proposed.  But  its  influence  has  been  far- 
reaching  and,  in  the  main,  highly  beneficial. 

THE    ELECTIVE    SYSTEM 

Since  the  early  days  of  the  academies,  it  has  been  cus- 
tomary in  many  schools  to  offer  alternative  courses ;  one  of 
them  classical,  the  other  "  modern."  Other  options  have 
been  added  from  time  to  time,  so  that  now  a  large  school 
commonly  offers  several  parallel  courses.  But  especially 
within  the  last  twenty  years,  there  has  appeared  a  strong 
demand  that  instead  of  a  choice  of  courses  the  students  be 
offered  a  wide  range  of  choice  in  particular  subjects. 

Several  influences  have  combined  to  bring  about  this 
demand.  The  general  adoption  of  an  elective  system  in 
the  colleges  may  be  mentioned.  Teachers  have  objected  to 
close  prescription  in  high  schools  when  freedom  is  increasing 


173]  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  33 

in  the  higher  institutions.  The  conviction  that  the  secondary 
schools  should  not  be  merely  tributary  to  the  colleges  is  gain- 
ing ground.  What  is  good  education  in  the  high  school,  it  is 
maintained,  is  good  preparation  for  the  higher  schools.  The 
independence  of  the  secondary  school  carries  with  it  inde- 
pendent responsibility  for  the  supply  of  the  actual  educa- 
tional needs  of  the  youth  attending  such  a  school.  And  the 
students  in  the  high  schools  are  thought  to  have  reached  the 
stage  of  differentiation  of  educational  needs.  The  need  of 
the  state,  moreover,  which  education  must  satisfy,  is  the 
need  of  full  spiritual  unity  underlying  the  utmost  diversity 
of  talent  and  culture.  The  elementary  schools,  with  their 
single  course  of  study,  are  conservators  of  spiritual  unity. 
The  secondary  schools  can  and  ought  to  serve  a  different 
purpose.  Their  instruction  should  be  adapted  to  the  culti- 
vation of  the  diverse  talents  of  the  youth  enrolled  in  them. 
No  two  students  have  exactly  the  same  aptitudes ;  so  far  as 
possible,  every  student  should  pursue  a  different  course  of 
instruction  from  every  other  student. 

It  will  be  seen  that  one  tendency  of  this  doctrine  is  to 
substitute  a  quantitative  for  a  qualitative  consideration  of 
the  curriculum.  The  most  diverse  subjects  are  held  to  be 
equivalent  for  the  purposes  of  general  culture,  if  pursued  for 
equal  periods  of  time  under  equally  favorable  conditions.  A 
high  school  curriculum,  under  this  system,  would  consist  of  a 
fixed  number  of  units  of  study,  to  be  chosen  at  will  from  the 
whole  number  of  studies  taught  in  the  school.  Certain  utter- 
ances of  the  committee  of  ten  have  tended  to  strengthen 
this  quantitative  view  of  the  curriculum.  It  has  received 
reinforcement,  also,  from  some  prominent  institutions  of 
higher  instruction,  as  the  Indiana  and  the  Leland  Stan- 
ford Junior  universities,  which  have  stated  their  admission 
requirements  for  the  most  part  in  quantitative  terms. 

In  the  attempt  to  reduce  this  doctrine  to  practice,  cer- 
tain modifications  necessarily  enter.  The  choice  of  studies 
cannot  be  left  simply  to  the  immature  pupil.  He  must  have 
the  advice  of   parents  or  guardians,   and   particularly  the 


34  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  [174 

advice  of  the  principal  of  the  school.  Even  if  other  sub- 
jects may  be  given  over  to  absolute  freedom  of  election, 
studies  in  English  are  found  to  be  indispensable  in  every 
course.  Little  by  little,  other  subjects  are  acknowledged  to 
be  essential ;  until  it  appears  that  there  is  little  difference  in 
practical  working  between  a  system  of  parallel  courses  ren- 
dered flexible  by  the  allowing  of  occasional  substitutions,  and 
an  adequately  supervised  elective  system.  The  committee 
of  ten  enunciated  an  important  regulative  principle  in  pro- 
posing that  each  secondary  school  curriculum  should  provide 
an  outlook  into  the  several  domains  of  language,  mathematics, 
history,  and  natural  science.  From  whichever  side  the  prob- 
lem of  the  course  of  study  is  approached,  the  discussions  seem 
to  tend  toward  a  requirement  in  each  of  several  broad  fields 
of  knowledge,  together  with  large  freedom  in  the  choice  of 
particular  subjects  within  those  fields. 

COLLEGE    ENTRANCE    REQUIREMENTS 

The  latest  attempt  at  an  adjustment  of  the  relations  of 
secondary  schools  and  colleges,  to  the  educational  advantage 
of  both,  is  contained  in  the  report  of  the  committee  on  col- 
lege entrance  requirements.  It  seems  not  unlikely  that  this 
report  may  be  more  fruitful  of  tangible  results  than  any  of  the 
papers  relating  to  the  same  subject  which  have  preceded  it. 

In  1 895, the  National  educational  association,  through  its 
departments  of  secondary  education  and  higher  education, 
appointed  a  committee  to  consider  the  specific  question  of 
the  unification  of  college  entrance  requirements.  This  com- 
mittee, as  finally  constituted,  consisted  of  fourteen  members, 
representing  the  high  schools  and  universities  of  different 
sections  of  the  country,  under  the  chairmanship  of  the 
superintendent  of  high  schools  of  the  city  of  Chicago.  The 
first  important  service  rendered  by  the  committee  was  the 
preparation  and  publication  of  a  table  showing  the  actual 
entrance  requirements  of  sixty-seven  representative  colleges, 
universities,  and  higher  technical  schools  in  the  United 
States. 


175]  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  35 

The  committee's  final  report  was  presented  at  the  meet- 
ing of  the  National  educational  association  in  July,  1899. 
This  report  is  mainly  devoted  to  the  attempt  to  establish 
"  national  units,  or  norms,"  in  the  several  subjects  taught  in 
the  secondary  schools  as  preparatory  to  the  college  course. 
The  fundamental  problem,  in  the  language  of  the  committee, 
"  is  to  formulate  courses  of  study  in  each  of  the  several  sub- 
jects of  the  curriculum  which  shall  be  substantially  equal  in 
value,  the  measure  of  value  being  both  quantity  and  quality 
of  work  done.  It  is  not  to  be  expected,  nor  is  it  desired,  that 
all  colleges  should  make  the  same  entrance  requirements, 
nor  is  it  to  be  expected  that  all  schools  will  have  the  same 
program  of  studies.  What  is  to  be  desired,  and  what  the 
committee  hopes  may  become  true,  is  that  the  colleges  will 
state  their  entrance  requirements  in  terms  of  national  units, 
or  norms,  and  that  the  schools  will  build  up  their  program  of 
studies  out  of  the  units  furnished  by  these  separate  courses 
of  study."  This  hope  is  reinforced  by  experience  with  col- 
lege entrance  requirements  in  English,  which  have  within 
the  past  few  years  become  nearly  uniform  throughout 
the  country,  on  the  basis  of  the  recommendations  of  the 
commission  of  colleges  in  New  England  on  admission 
examinations. 

In  the  determination  of  these  norms,  the  committee 
received  assistance  from  several  bodies  of  expert  scholars 
in  the  several  branches  of  instruction.  The  American 
philological  association  proposed  courses  of  study  in  Latin 
and  Greek.  The  modern  language  association  of  America 
rendered  a  like  service  with  reference  to  the  French  and 
German  languages.  The  American  historical  association  and 
the  Chicago  section  of  the  American  mathematical  society 
reported  on  courses  in  history  and  mathematics.  And  the 
department  of  natural-science  instruction  of  the  national  edu- 
cational association  presented  recommendations  relating  to 
physical  geography,  chemistry,  botany,  zoology,  and  physics. 
These  several  supplemental  papers  are  published  in  connec- 
tion with  the  committee's  report.     The  committee  express 


36  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  [l?^ 

general  approval  of  the  courses  recommended  in  these 
papers,  suggest  some  slight  modifications,  and  offer  an 
independent  report  on  the  subject  of  English.  Their 
further  recommendations  are  summed  up  in  fourteen  reso- 
lutions, of  which  the  following  seem  to  be  of  the  greatest 
general  significance : 

I.  That  the  principle  of  election  be  recognized  in  second- 
ary schools. 

IV.  That  we  favor  a  unified  six-year  high  school  course 
of  study  beginning  with  the  seventh  grade. 

VI.  That  while  the  committee  recognizes  as  suitable  for 
recommendation  by  the  colleges  for  admission  the  several 
studies  enumerated  in  this  report,  and  while  it  also  recog- 
nizes the  principle  of  large  liberty  to  the  students  in  second- 
ary schools,  it  does  not  believe  in  unlimited  election,  but 
especially  emphasizes  the  importance  of  a  certain  number  of 
constants  in  all  secondary  schools  and  in  all  requirements 
for  admission  to  college. 

That  the  committee  recommends  that  the  number  of  con- 
stants be  recognized  in  the  following  proportion,  namely  : 
four  units  in  foreign  languages  (no  language  accepted  in  less 
than  two  units),  two  units  in  mathematics,  two  in  English, 
one  in  history,  and  one  in  science. 

XII.  That  we  recommend  that  any  piece  of  work  com- 
prehended within  the  studies  included  in  this  report  that  has 
covered  at  least  one  year  of  four  periods  a  week  in  a  well- 
equipped  secondary  school,  under  competent  instruction, 
should  be  considered  worthy  to  count  toward  admission  to 
college. 

The  committee  disclaim  any  implication  that  different 
subjects  may  be  regarded  as  educationally  equivalent.  "  This 
proposition"  [resolution  XII],  they  say,  "does  not  involve 
of  itself,  necessarily,  the  idea  that  all  subjects  are  of  equal 
cultural  or  disciplinary  value,  *  *  *  yg^-  ^-j^g  advantages 
to  our  educational  system  of  the  adoption  of  this  principle 
will  be  so  great  as  far  to  outweigh  any  incidental  disadvan- 
tage which  may  accrue  from  accepting  as  of  equal  value  for 


177]  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  37 

college  purposes  the  more  or  less  unequal  values  represented 
by  these  studies." 

COURSES  OF  STUDY 

The  actual  courses  of  study  in  our  secondary  schools  show 
great  diversity.     There  is  here,  as  in  other  portions  of  the 
American  educational  system,  no  semblance  of  national  con- 
trol.    There  are  but  few  states  if  any  where  the  course  of 
study  is  prescribed  by  state  authority.     This  matter  is  gen- 
erally left  to  the  discretion  of  municipal  or  district  boards  of 
education.     Yet  the  differences  between  neighboring  schools, 
or  between  the  schools  of  different  sections  of  the  country,  are 
not  so  great  as  one  might  suppose.     Owing  to  the  extensive 
circulation  of  all  sorts  of  educational  publications,  and  the 
frequent  meeting  of  teachers  one  with  another  in  educa- 
tional conventions,  there  is  a  surprising  approach  toward 
uniformity  in  the  educational  provisions  found  in  all  parts  of 
the  country.     Even  the  poorer  and  more  backward  sections 
are  often  found  striving  conscientiously  and  earnestly  after 
the  ideals  proposed  by  more  favored  districts.     High  schools 
may  be  found  having  courses  ranging  all  the  way  from  one 
to  six  years  in  length  ;  but  the  four-year  course  is  the  gen- 
erally recognized  standard.     Twenty  years  ago,  it  was  com- 
mon to  find  courses  weighed  down  with  a  large  number  of 
subjects,  many  of  them  pursued  for  only  a  fraction  of  a  year. 
This  was  notably  true  of  subjects  in  natural  science ;  but  it 
is  true  to  a  much  less  extent  at  the  present  day.     In  spite  of 
all  assaults  made  upon  the  classical  studies,  they  are  appa- 
rently growing  in  favor.     It  would  perhaps  be  fair  to  say 
that  in  many  of  the  better  schools,  public  as  well  as  private, 
the  classical  course  is  commonly  regarded  as  the  standard, 
from  which  the  other  courses  pursued  in  the  same  school  are 
looked  upon  as  variants.     But  the  classical  course  now  com- 
monly includes  one  or  two  years  of  natural  science. 

The  courses  given  below  represent  three  different  types 
of  school : 

I.  Courses  in  Phillips  academy,  Andover,  Massachusetts. 
- — an  incorporated  and  endowed  boarding  school  for  boys. 


38 


SECONDARY    EDUCATION 


[178 


[The  figures  in  the  columns  indicate  the  number  of  recitation  periods  a  week 
devoted  to  the  several  subjects.  Figures  in  parentheses  indicate  that  the  subjects 
for  which  they  stand  are  alternative  with  others  in  the  same  column.] 


CLASSICAL    COURSE 

SCIENTIFIC   COURSE 

» 

> 
t-i 

in 

a 
0 

1— 1 

0 

in 
10 

U 

Q 

to 

u 

0 

OJ 
OJ 

0 

0 

< 

English 

Latin 

4 
6 

2 

5 

4 

(4) 

(4) 

2 

2 
5 

2 
3 

Eighteen  hours  selected   from  the 
foregoing  subjects,  with  the  addi- 
tion of  physics,  trigonometry, 
mechanical  drawing  and  zoology. 

4 
6 

2 

4 

2 
(2) 

n   the 
addi- 

mical 
ical 

Greek 

French 

2 
2 

2 

(4) 

(4) 

3 

3 

(2) 
(2) 

3 

3 
4 

-  "  u  0 

T3-S   ^  »• 

German 

§'^bj;s 

Algebra 

Geometry 

History 

2 
2 

hours   sel 
subjects, 

rigonomet 
zoo  log 

and  phys 

Natural  Science. 

2 

Chemistry  .  ,  . 

2 

(4) 
(2) 

•«  S  «  rt  0 

Botany 

... 

Mo  2  «■  S 

2.  Courses  recommended  for  the  high  schools  of  Minne- 
sota by  the  state  high  school  board. 


LATIN   SCIENTIFIC   COURSE 


First 
year 


Second 
year 


Third 
year 


Fourth 
year 


English 

Latin   

Mathematics  . . . 

History 

Natural  science, 


In  Latin,  first  year,  grammar;  second  year,  Caesar;  third 
year,  Cicero ;  fourth  year,  Virgil.  In  mathematics,  first 
year,  algebra ;  second  year,  plane  geometry ;  fourth  year, 
solid  geometry  and  higher  algebra.  In  natural  science,  first 
year,  zoology  or  botany ;  third  year,  physics ;  fourth  year, 
chemistry. 


179] 


SECONDARY    EDUCATION 


39. 


Literary  Course:  as  above,  substituting  four  years  of 
German  for  Latin. 

Classical  Course :  as  above,  substituting  Greek  grammar 
and  Anabasis  for  equivalents. 

English  Course:  as  above,  substituting  for  Latin  four 
credits  chosen  from  botany,  physiography,  bookkeeping, 
civics,  history,  political  economy,  and  senior  commcfn 
branches. 

3.  Course  for  Public  Latin  school,  Boston,  Massachusetts : 


Class  VI 

Class  V 

Class  IV 

Class  III 

Class  ll 

Class  I 

English 

3 

5 

3 

5 

3 

7  [4] 

[4] 
[3] 

3 
4 

5 
3 

3 
5 

5 

2 

3 

4 
5 

Latin 

Greek 

French 

German 

5 

Arithmetic 

Algebra 

4  [5] 

4 

'4  [3] 



3 

3 

Geometry 

4 

History 

3 

3 

3 
3 

2 

I 

2 

2 

Geography 

Physics 

4 

2 

Gymnastics 

Military  Drill 

2 

2 

2 

2 

2 

The  brackets  indicate  an  assignment  of  hours  for  the 
spring  term  which  differs  from  that  in  the  same  subjects 
for  the  remainder  of  the  year.  Botany,  physiology  and 
hygiene  are  studied  during  the  spring  term  in  the  hours 
assigned  to  geography  in  the  table.  Objective  geometry  is 
studied  in  connection  with  arithmetic  in  classes  VI  and  V. 
Plane  geometry  is  begun  in  the  hours  assigned  to  algebra  in 
class  IL 

DIFFERENTIATION    OF    SCHOOLS 

The  differentiation  which  appears  everywhere  in  our  sec- 
ondary education  is  not  limited  to  the  diversifying  of  studies 
within  the  several  schools ;  it  appears  also  in  the  erection  of 
special  schools  for  special  classes  of  students.  In  the  first 
place,  we  may  note  the  provision  for  separate  schooling  of 


40  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  [l8o 

boys  and  girls.  The  grammar  schools  of  the  seventeenth 
and  eighteenth  centuries  were  for  boys  alone.  A  number  of 
the  old  academies  were  co-educational.  Early  in  the  nine- 
teenth century,  academies  for  girls  exclusively  were  estab- 
lished, and  large  numbers  of  such  schools  have  flourished 
down  to  the  present  day.  A  public  high  school  for  girls  was 
established  at  Boston  in  1826,  but  it  was  short-lived,  owing 
to  the  large  expense  which  it  entailed.  At  Providence, 
Rhode  Island,  in  1843,  ^  co-educational  high  school  was 
opened  ;  and  the  most  of  the  high  schools  established  since 
that  time  have  been  for  both  sexes. 

The  report  of  the  United  States  commissioner  of  educa- 
tion for  1896-97  showed  a  total  of  5,109  public  high  schools 
in  the  whole  country,  of  which  35  were  for  boys  only,  26  for 
girls  only,  and  the  remainder  co-educational.  The  same 
report  showed  a  total  of  2,100  private  high  schools,  acade- 
mies, etc.,  of  which  351  were  for  boys  only,  537  for  girls 
only,  and  1,212  co-educational. 

Another  special  type  of  school,  the  evening  high  school, 
has  been  established  in  a  number  of  our  larger  cities.  These 
schools  have  offered  very  elastic  courses  of  study,  suited  to 
the  varied  needs  of  their  clientage ;  and  have  been  a  great 
boon  to  many  who  have  been  obliged  to  work  by  day  after 
the  completion  of  an  elementary  school  course. 

In  the  northern  and  western  states,  white  and  colored 
students,  where  there  are  colored  students  of  secondary 
grade,  commonly  attend  the  same  schools.  In  the  southern 
states,  separate  schools  are  provided  for  those  of  African 
race.  The  report  of  the  commissioner  of  education  for 
1896-97  showed  169  schools  in  the  United  States  for  the 
secondary  and  higher  education  of  colored  youth  exclusively. 
In  many  of  these  schools  both  grades  of  instruction  were 
provided  in  the  same  institution.  About  20  of  the  number 
were  public  high  schools.  The  remainder  were  private  or 
denominational  institutions.  In  these  169  schools,  15,203 
colored  students  were  receiving  instruction  of  secondary 
grade. 


l8l]  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  4I 

The  European  manual  training  exhibits  at  the  centennial 
exhibition  in  Philadelphia,  in  1876,  gave  a  strong  impetus 
to  a  movement  already  begun  toward  the  establishment  of 
manual  training  schools  in  American  cities.  St.  Louis  took 
a  step  forward,  in  1879,  i^  ^^^  establishment  of  such  a  school 
in  connection  with  Washington  university.  Within  a  few 
years,  similar  schools  were  established,  some  under  private 
and  some  under  public  control,  in  Baltimore,  Chicago, 
Toledo,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  other  cities.  In  these 
schools,  the  idea  of  manual  training  for  the  purposes  of 
general  culture  was  usually  uppermost,  their  projectors  dis- 
claiming any  intention  of  establishing  schools  for  the  teach- 
ing of  trades.  More  recently  trade  schools  have  been 
established  in  the  largest  cities,  but  for  the  most  part  under 
private  initiative  and  control. 

The  commercial  spirit  of  this  country  finds  expression  in 
the  frequent  appearance  of  such  subjects  as  bookkeeping 
and  commercial  arithmetic  in  general  courses  of  study. 
Special  schools  for  distinctively  commercial  training  are 
usually  private  ventures.  These  are  found  in  great  numbers 
in  all  parts  of  the  country,  generally  going  by  the  name  of 
"commercial  college"  or  "business  college."  In  1896-97, 
the  commissioner  of  education  presented  reports  from  341 
such  schools,  with  77,746  students  in  attendance.  Within 
the  past  decade  there  has  been  a  growing  demand  for  public 
commercial  high  schools  in  the  larger  cities.  Thus  far,  com- 
paratively slight  provision  has  been  made  to  meet  this 
demand,  but  there  is  reason  to  expect  that  there  will  in  the 
near  future  be  a  considerable  expansion  of  our  public  educa- 
tion on  this  side.  The  business  high  school  in  Washington, 
D.  C,  may  be  mentioned  as  one  illustration  of  the  serious 
interest  which  has  begun  to  appear  in  this  side  of  secondary 
instruction. 

The  recognition  of  the  importance  and  need  of  purely 
vocational  schools  of  secondary  grade  puts  a  new  aspect  on 
the  problem  of  the  school  curriculum.  As  has  been  shown, 
Americans  are  loath  to  recognize  any  necessity  of  a  bifur- 


42  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  [182 

cation  of  courses,  such  that  the  student  taking  one  road 
finds  the  way  open  to  indefinite  advancement  in  higher 
studies,  while  one  taking  the  other  alternative  finds  a  defi- 
nite limit  a  little  way  before  him.  We  have  commonly  failed 
to  recognize  the  need  of  turning  aside  at  some  point,  early  or 
late,  to  master  a  distinct  occupation  in  life.  We  have  been 
willing  to  sacrifice  expertness  in  one's  calling  to  the  hope 
of  unlimited  progress  in  higher  culture.  With  the  growing 
interest  in  technical  training  of  a  commercial  or  mechanical 
sort,  there  appears  a  set  of  difficult  problems.  A  purely 
vocational  course  in  a  trade  school  presents  no  educational 
outlook  beyond  the  mastery  of  the  trade.  If  a  final  choice 
must  be  made  between  the  highway  of  learning  and  the 
cul-de-sac^  how  shall  it  be  so  far  postponed  as  to  give  to 
each  pupil  his  full  share  of  general  culture,  without  reduc- 
ing unduly  his  chance  of  full  preparation  for  his  life  work  ? 
Still  more  difficult  are  the  questions  relating  to  certain  semi- 
vocational  courses,  such  as  those  of  the  manual  training  high 
school.  The  tendency  is  to  regard  these  as  primarily  courses 
for  general  culture,  with  an  outlook  into  the  college  or  the 
higher  scientific  school.  It  is  possible  that  at  times  their 
service  as  preparatory  to  the  mastery  of  certain  trades  has 
been  somewhat  obscured  in  this  view.  But  questions  such 
as  these  are  still  before  us  for  settlement. 

THE    STUDY    OF    ADOLESCENCE 

One  movement  should  be  mentioned  which  is  part  cause 
and  part  result  of  the  increased  attention  which  is  now  paid 
to  problems  of  secondary  education,  in  themselves  consid- 
ered. Reference  is  made  to  the  study  of  the  several  aspects 
of  adolescence,  as  a  stage  in  the  mental  development  of  indi- 
viduals. Secondary  education  being  essentially  the  educa- 
tion of  adolescents,  whatever  throws  light  upon  the  peculiar 
psychology  and  natural  history  of  this  period  of  youth  is  of 
value  to  the  educator.  Many  studies  of  particular  phases 
of  adolescent  development  have  been  made  within  the  past 
few  years,  under   the  stimulus  of   investigations  begun  at 


183]  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  43 

Clark  university.  These  studies  are  as  yet  fragmentary ; 
and  they  cannot  be  said  to  have  led  to  well-defined  reforms. 
Yet  their  influence  has  been  manifest  in  the  general  tone 
and  spirit  of  secondary  education.  They  have  prompted  to 
a  more  sympathetic  treatment  of  our  youth  in  their  time  of 
spiritual  reconstruction  ;  to  a  better  appreciation  of  the  diffi- 
culties attending  the  passage  from  the  intellectual  depend- 
ence of  childhood  to  the  individual  convictions  of  manhood 
and  womanhood.  They  have  led  to  a  more  careful  obser- 
vation of  individual  differences  of  development,  and  have 
strengthened  the  demand  for  greater  freedom  in  both 
courses  and  methods  of  instruction.  Such  results  warrant 
the  hope  that  further  researches  in  this  field  may  lead  to 
generalized  knowledge  of  the  needs  and  aptitudes  of  youth, 
which  will  be  ot  the  highest  significance  in  educational 
practice. 

METHODS    OF    INSTRUCTION 

Methods  of  instruction  in  all  secondary  school  subjects 
have  been  profoundly  influenced  of  late  from  the  side  of 
the  natural  sciences.  Laboratories  have  become  common 
in  high  schools  and  academies.  College  entrance  require- 
ments have  been  extended  to  include  laboratory  work  in 
physics,  and,  in  some  instances,  in  chemistry  or  in  the  biologi- 
cal sciences.  In  Massachusetts,  in  1897,  it  was  reported  that 
66  high  schools  were  provided  with  laboratory  facilities,  80 
had  fair  or  limited  facilities,  and  98  had  poor  facilities  or 
none. 

In  these  laboratories,  students  perform  representative 
experiments  in  the  science  they  are  pursuing,  under  the  guid- 
ance and  subject  to  the  criticism  of  the  instructor.  These 
experiments  are  commonly  regarded  as  illustrative  of  or  pre- 
paratory to  the  statement  of  principles  in  a  text-book.  The 
"  method  of  re-discovery  "  has  influenced  the  practice  of  the 
schools ;  yet  there  are  probably  few  school  laboratories  in 
which  the  students  are  expected  to  re-discover  on  their  own 
account  the  laws  of  physics  or  chemistry,  or  of  any  other 
of  the  sciences.     A  fine  blending  of  discovery,  verification, 


44  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  [184 

and  correction  seems  to  be  the  ideal  of  our  best  teachers  of 
natural  science.  Much  stress  is  laid  on  the  accurate  record- 
ing of  observations  and  experiments.  The  students'  note- 
books serve  as  one  of  the  chief  tests  of  the  excellence  of 
their  work. 

This  is  different  from  the  prevailing  method  of  a  genera- 
tion ago  :  the  text-book  was  then  the  main  reliance  in  school 
instruction,  even  for  classes  in  the  natural  sciences. 

The  lecture  system  has  never  occupied  a  large  place  in 
our  secondary  schools.  Clearness  of  exposition  has  always 
been,  and  will  doubtless  always  be  an  important  element  in  a 
teacher's  equipment  for  teaching.  Skillful  instructors  have  at 
all  times  exercised  themselves  to  help  their  pupils  over  diffi- 
culties in  such  manner  as  would  prepare  them  to  surmount 
future  difficulties  for  themselves.  And  we  read  of  old-time 
masters  who  were  famous  for  their  ability  to  ask  searching 
and  stimulating  questions.  But  set  lectures  have  not  found 
favor  here.  Oral  and  written  recitations  by  students,  on  the 
other  hand,  fill  a  large  place  in  the  work  of  our  schools. 

The  recent  extension  of  laboratory  exercises,  together 
with  the  proportionate  reduction  of  text-book  study,  repre- 
sents a  notable  change  of  view  as  to  the  function  of  instruc- 
tion in  general.  We  find  accordingly  that  a  like  change 
appears  in  the  treatment  of  other  branches  than  the  natural 
sciences.  The  attempt  is  now  made  to  put  the  student  in 
touch  with  first-hand  materials  of  knowledge  ;  and  to  guide 
and  stimulate  him  to  the  end  of  making  over  these  crude 
facts  into  real  knowledge  for  himself.  This  procedure  seeks 
to  give  full  recognition  to  both  the  ideal  and  the  sensuous  ele- 
ments in  knowledge  ;  and  it  indicates  some  appreciation  of 
the  fact  that  the  ideal  element  to  be  truly  ideal  must  be  sup- 
plied by  the  active  agency  of  the  student's  own  thought, 
exercised  upon  the  products  of  his  own  experience. 

In  the  practice  of  the  schools,  we  find  these  principles 
applied,  for  example,  to  the  teaching  of  history.  While  text- 
books are  not  dispensed  with,  the  effort  is  made  to  give  the 
student  some  acquaintance  with  the  sources  of  our  historical 


185]  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  45 

knowledge.  In  the  study  of  literature,  less  attention  is  paid 
to  historical  summaries  than  was  formerly  the  case,  and  more 
time  is  devoted  to  the  study  of  literary  masterpieces.  In 
grammar  and  rhetoric,  the  study  of  principles  is  closely  con- 
nected with  the  study  of  passages  from  literature  which 
embody  those  principles  in  living  forms  ;  and  with  composi- 
tion exercises  upon  topics  which  invite  free  expression.  In 
the  study  of  modern  languages,  facility  in  conversation  is 
not  commonly  sought ;  though  there  are  schools  here  and 
there  which  lay  great  stress  upon  this  acquisition.  The 
ability  to  read  the  languages  readily  and  with  understanding, 
and  to  enter  into  an  appreciation  of  their  literatures,  are  the 
ends  chiefly  striven  for.  To  these  ends,  grammatical  study 
is  of  course  necessary.  But  the  grammar  is  studied,  on  the 
whole,  less  abstractly  than  formerly,  and  more  in  its  actual 
embodiment  in  literature.  Greater  effort  is  made  now  than  a 
generation  ago  to  secure  a  reading  knowledge  of  the  ancient 
classics.  More  hope  is  held  out  to  classes  in  Latin  and  Greek, 
that  they  may,  with  attentive  effort,  attain  to  such  mastery. 
There  is  much  difference  of  opinion  among  leading  teachers 
as  to  the  proportionate  attention  to  be  paid  to  "  sight  read- 
ing ; "  and  as  to  the  value  of  the  inductive  method  in  the 
mastery  of  grammatical  principles  :  but  actual  practice  seems 
to  be  tending  slowly  toward  a  middle  course,  which  retains 
much  of  the  old-time  thorough  discipline  in  Latin  and  Greek 
grammar,  but  brings  this  training  into  more  vital  connection 
with  the  study  of  classic  literature.  The  writing  of  Latin 
verse  is  generally  discarded.  Prose  composition  is  receiving 
increased  attention,  and  is  now  more  imitative  in  its  charac- 
ter than  formerly,  being  commonly  based  on  the  Latin  or 
Greek  masterpiece  which  the  class  is  studying  at  the  same 
time.  The  question  of  approaching  Attic  through  modern 
Greek  has  been  warmly  discussed,  but  the  proposed  change 
finds  little,  if  any,  acceptance  in  actual  practice.  In  mathe- 
matics, much  stress  is  laid  upon  the  original  demonstration 
of  theorems,  particularly  in  plane  and  solid  geometry.  It 
appears  from  time  to  time  that  instruction  in  mathematics  is 


46  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  [l86 

weakened  by  a  failure  to  insist  upon  the  use  of  accurate  lan- 
guage in  demonstrations  ;  and  from  time  to  time  fresh  efforts 
are  put  forth  to  strengthen  the  work  on  this  side.  At  the 
present  day,  especial  stress  is  laid  in  some  quarters  upon 
the  need  of  more  careful  and  accurate  English  expression  in 
all  school  exercises.  The  attempt  to  teach  English  expres- 
sion, oral  and  written,  wholly  through  the  medium  of  instruc- 
tion in  other  branches  does  not  promise  well ;  but  there  is, 
fortunately,  a  growing  recognition  of  the  fact  that  all  teachers 
must  have  at  least  some  share  in  the  responsibility  for  such 
instruction. 

MORAL    VALUES 

The  moral  influence  of  secondary  schools  is  undoubtedly 
the  most  important  topic  to  be  considered  in  this  paper,  but 
it  is  at  the  same  time  the  most  difficult  to  reduce  to  accurate 
statement.  The  religious  background  of  moral  instruction 
has  already  been  referred  to.  It  should  be  added  that  even 
in  public  high  schools,  from  which  all  instruction  in  sectarian 
dogmas  is  strictly  excluded,  there  is  not  uncommonly  found 
a  pervasive  religious  atmosphere,  an  influence  emanating 
from  the  personal  character  of  the  instructors.  In  many 
of  these  schools,  it  is  still  customary  to  open  the  daily 
session  with  the  reading  of  a  passage  from  the  Bible  or 
the  repetition  of  the  Lord's  prayer ;  or  with  the  singing  of 
a  devotional  or  patriotic  hymn.  But  whatever  there  may 
be  of  religious  tone  and  spirit  in  these  schools  is  of  a  very 
general  and  unobtrusive  sort,  and  far  removed  from  ecclesi- 
asticism.  Teachers  wholly  indifferent  to  dogmatic  religion 
or  in  known  opposition  thereto  are  freely  employed  in  the 
schools ;  but  would  probably  be  found  to  constitute  only  a 
small  minority  of  the  teaching  force  of  the  country.  In  some 
schools,  elementary  ethics  is  taught,  along  with  elementary 
psychology,  or  perhaps  economics.  But  this  is  unusual. 
The  moral  force  of  the  high  schools  depends,  then,  mainly 
on  the  personal  influence  of  the  teachers  in  their  instruction 
in  the  ordinary  school  subjects ;  on  the  government  of  the 
school ;  and  on  the  relations  of  the  students  one  with  another. 


187]  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  47 

Some  subjects  of  instruction  offer  especial  advantages  as 
regards  the  formation  of  high  ideals  of  conduct.  The  teach- 
ing of  literature,  and  particularly  the  literature  of  the  mother 
tongue,  is  found  to  be  of  great  value  in  this  respect  —  the 
more  so,  doubtless,  when  untimely  moralizing  is  dispensed 
with,  and  noble  sentiments  are  permitted  to  make  their 
appeal  through  the  charm  of  their  artistic  presentation. 
Choice  works  of  plastic  and  pictorial  art  are  rapidly  finding 
their  way  into  our  school  rooms.  There  is  no  systematic 
study  of  aesthetics  in  the  school  programs.  These  works  of 
art  are  expected  to  accomplish  their  mission  by  their  mere 
presence,  sometimes  supplemented  by  an  informal  discussion 
of  their  merits  ;  or  they  serve  to  reinforce  the  aesthetic  side 
of  instruction  in  literature  and  in  drawing.  In  some  schools 
music  is  steadily  cultivated,  and  holds  an  honored  place. 

History  is  probably,  on  the  whole,  the  most  neglected  of  the 
main  lines  of  study  in  secondary  schools  ;  and  the  moral  loss 
resulting  from  such  neglect  is  serious.  Greek  and  Roman 
history  is  commonly  taught,  at  least  in  classical  courses  ;  but 
too  often  in  a  scrappy  and  inadequate  fashion.  Later  Euro- 
pean history  receives  some  attention.  The  history  of  the 
United  States  is,  perhaps,  the  most  seriously  slighted  of  all. 
The  reason  for  this  seems  to  be  that  the  histor}^  of  our  own 
country  is  studied  in  the  grammar  schools  ;  and  it  is  not 
emphasized  by  the  colleges  as  an  admission  subject.  But  a 
change  for  the  better  is  slowly  coming  over  the  historical  side 
of  our  school  programs. 

Skillful  teachers,  however,  make  instruction  in  all  subjects 
moral  —  by  arousing  a  pure  desire  for  truth,  a  spirit  of  intel- 
lectual honesty,  a  will  to  work  and  to  overcome  difficulties, 
and  a  long  line  of  modest  and  every-day  virtues. 

The  government  of  our  best  secondary  schools,  and  even 
of  many  of  the  smaller  schools,  which  are  comparatively 
unknown,  presents  much  which  may  be  regarded  with  genu- 
ine satisfaction.  The  relations  of  teachers  and  students  are 
comparatively  informal.  There  is  little  consciousness  of 
official  or  artificial  barriers  between  them.     While  strict  dis- 


48  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  [l88 

ciplinary  measures  are  often  found  necessary  and  are  often 
enforced  with  vigor,  the  prevalent  type  of  high  school  and 
academy  government  is  that  which  treats  the  students  as  if 
they  were  already  ladies  and  gentlemen,  and  throws  them  as 
far  as  possible  on  their  own  responsibility.  Some  interesting 
and  successful  experiments  have  been  made  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  regular  systems  of  self-government  among  students. 
It  would  seem,  however,  that  only  a  principal  who  has  the 
strength  and  skill  to  govern  well  is  capable  of  making  a 
school  into  a  truly  self-governing  body. 

Under  any  system  of  government,  the  social  life  of  the 
school  is  the  chief  teacher  of  morals.  It  is  one  of  the  glories 
of  American  high  schools  that  the  children  of  rich  and 
poor,  of  high  and  low,  meet  there  on  common  ground. 
The  fact  that  tuition  in  these  schools  is  free  to  all,  helps  to 
bring  about  this  result.  It  is  unnecessary  to  point  out  the 
numberless  bearings  of  this  democratic  spirit  in  the  schools 
upon  the  pupils  who  are  subject  to  its  influence. 

There  is  undoubtedly  a  growing  disposition  among  fami- 
lies of  wealth  and  high  social  position,  to  send  their  children 
to  private  schools  ;  and  this  fact  has  tended  of  late  to  the 
increase  of  such  schools.  This  disposition  is,  however,  by 
no  means  universal.  And  while  the  atmosphere  of  a  private 
boarding  school  is  necessarily  different  from  that  of  a  pub- 
lic high  school,  it  may  be  questioned  whether  in  the  great 
endowed  schools  of  the  country  there  is  any  marked  encour- 
agement given  to  purely  aristocratic  tastes  and  tendencies. 
The  principals  of  boarding  schools  find  it  necessary  at  times 
to  protest  against  providing  students  with  too  lavish  a  sup- 
ply of  spending  money.  And  the  fact  that  such  protests  are 
heard  seems  to  indicate  that  there  is  a  serious  effort  on  the 
part  of  school  authorities  to  minimize  distinctions  based  on 
wealth. 

STUDENTS 

The  social  organization  of  the  students  in  these  schools 
calls  for  further  notice.  High  schools  and  academies  are 
much  alike  in  this  respect.     The  instinct  of  association  is 


189]  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  49 

Strong  in  our  youth,  and  it  finds  expression  in  all  sorts  of 
clubs,  leagues,  societies,  and  fraternities.     The  example  of 
the  colleges  has  been  influential  in  the  schools  in  this  par- 
ticular.    The  several  classes  are  commonly  organized,  with 
class  officers,  and  have  occasional   gatherings  of  a  social 
character.     The  offices  of  the  highest  class   in  school  are 
sought  for  with  keen    competition.     Athletic  associations, 
foot-ball  and  base-ball  clubs,  and  the  like,  are  usually  main- 
tained.    Match  games  are  played  with  neighboring  schools, 
which   call   forth   unbounded  enthusiasm.     Several  schools 
are  often  joined  in  an  athletic  league ;  and  the  annual  field 
days  of  these  leagues  are  great  occasions  in  the  school  year. 
The  athletic  records  and  trophies  of  a  school  are  very  highly 
prized.     Well-equipped  gymnasiums  are  now  common  in  the 
larger  schools,  and  provision  for  military  drill  is  sometimes 
found ;  but  formal  exercises  do  not  take  the  place  of  free  com- 
petitive games.     Debating  clubs  and  other  literary  societies 
are  maintained  with  much  interest.     Contests  in  debate  with 
neighboring  schools  call  forth  a  spirit  of  emulation  like  that 
displayed  in  athletic  struggles.     Musical  organizations  are 
perhaps  less  common,  but  are  among  the  most  pleasing  of 
school  societies.     Annual  publications  by  successive  classes 
present  a  record  of  the  varied  interests  of  the  larger  schools, 
and  afford  a  field  for  budding  literary  and  artistic  genius  to 
show  its  quality.     Secret,  Greek-letter  societies  are  sometimes 
formed  after  the  fashion  of  the  colleges.     Not  unfrequently, 
too,  voluntary  associations  for  religious  culture  and  observ- 
ance are  maintained  by  the  students.     All  of  these  organ- 
izations are  commonly  under  the  immediate  control  of  the 
students  themselves ;  teachers  frequently  attend  the  various 
meetings,  but  more  as  friendly  advisers  than  as  governors. 

The  completion  of  the  course  of  study  in  a  secondary  school 
is  celebrated  in  public  with  "graduation"  exercises  and  the 
conferring  of  diplomas  upon  the  members  of  the  class.  The 
graduates  of  a  flourishing  school  will  usually  be  found  organ- 
ized in  an  alumni  association.  The  monthly  or  annual  meet- 
ings of  such  an  association  become  of  increasing  significance 
as  the  years  pass  and  its  numbers  and  influence  are  enlarged. 


50  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  [19O 


TEACHERS 

A  committee  of  the  National  educational  association  — 
the  so-called  committee  of  fifteen  on  elementary  education 
—  reported  in  1895,  among  other  topics,  on  the  training  of 
teachers  for  secondary  schools.  This  committee  declared 
that,  "  The  degree  of  scholarship  required  for  secondary 
teachers  is  by  common  consent  fixed  at  a  collegiate  educa- 
tion." They  proposed  a  course  of  special  training  for  such 
teachers,  consisting  of  instruction  during  the  senior  year  of 
the  college  course  in  psychology,  methodology,  school  sys- 
tems, and  the  history,  philosophy,  and  art  of  education  ;  and  a 
graduate  year  of  practice  in  teaching,  under  close  supervision, 
supplemented  by  advanced  studies  in  educational  theory. 

This  proposal  is  far  in  advance  of  common  practice  or 
requirement.  Very  few  of  the  American  states  make  any 
specific  requirement  for  the  high  school  teacher's  certifi- 
cate beyond  that  for  a  license  to  teach  in  the  elementary 
schools.  There  are,  on  the  other  hand,  many  secondary 
schools  in  which  teachers  rarely  obtain  employment,  if  at 
all,  unless  they  are  college  graduates ;  and  there  are  large 
sections  of  the  country  in  which  common  usage  is  rapidly 
tending  in  this  direction. 

The  most  of  the  leading  universities  and  some  of  the 
higher  normal  schools  are  devoting  especial  attention  to  the 
professional  training  of  teachers  for  schools  of  this  grade. 
A  committee  of  university  professors,  appointed  for  this 
purpose,  has  recently  published  a  report,  setting  forth  the 
existing  legal  provisions  for  the  certification  of  high  school 
teachers  in  the  several  states,  and  recommending  practicable 
reforms. 

A  Massachusetts  report  for  the  year  1897  shows  that  one 
per  cent  of  the  high  school  teachers  then  employed  in  that 
state  were  graduates  of  scientific  schools,  13  per  cent  of 
normal  schools,  66  per  cent  of  colleges,  and  the  remaining 
20  per  cent  unclassified. 

In  the  state  of  New  York,  in   1898,  32  per  cent  of  the 


191]  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  5 1 

teachers  In  secondary  schools  (not  including  principals)  were 
college  graduates,  39  per  cent  were  normal  school  graduates, 
19  per  cent  were  high  school  graduates,  and  10  per  cent  had 
had  other  training.  Of  the  principals,  5 1  per  cent  were  col- 
lege graduates,  35  per  cent  normal  school  graduates,  8  per 
jent  high  school  graduates,  and  6  per  cent  had  had  other 
training.  These  figures  include  private  academies  as  well 
as  public  high  schools.  They  include  also  one-year,  two- 
year,  and  three-year  schools,  as  well  as  fully-developed  high 
schools  and  academies. 

An  inquiry  into  the  preparation  of  teachers  in  the  second- 
ary schools  of  California,  in  October,  1897,  showed  that  of 
522  teachers  then  employed  in  the  public  high  schools  of  the 
state,  308,  or  59  per  cent,  were  college  graduates. 

These  figures  may  be  taken  as  representing  the  conditions 
which  obtain  in  some  of  the  more  favored  sections  of  the 
country. 

STATE  SYSTEMS 

The  several  states  have  been  slow  to  organize  general  sys- 
tems of  secondary  schools.  In  this  respect  secondary  edu- 
cation stands  in  marked  contrast  with  that  of  elementary 
grade.  But  a  few  of  the  states  have  made  considerable 
progress  in  this  particular. 

The  early  history  of  secondary  schools  in  Massachusetts 
has  already  been  told.  This  state  is  the  foremost  in  the 
union  in  the  universality  of  its  provision  for  secondary 
education.  Every  "  town  "  (township)  in  the  state  is  required 
by  law  to  provide  free  high  school  tuition  for  all  students 
who  are  prepared  for  that  grade  of  instruction.  Inasmuch 
as  the  whole  state  is  divided  into  towns,  this  means  that  free 
secondary  education  is  offered  to  every  child  in  the  common- 
wealth. Of  the  353  towns  in  the  state,  185  are  required  by 
law  to  maintain  high  schools ;  70  others  maintain  high 
schools,  though  not  required  to  do  so ;  and  those  not  main- 
taining such  high  schools  are  required  to  pay  the  tuition  fees 
of  qualified  students  within  their  limits  who  go  elsewhere 
for  high  school  instruction  —  and  may  pay  for  their  trans- 


52  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  [192 

portation  also.  The  poorer  towns  receive  help  from  the 
state  in  paying  for  tuition  in  outside  schools.  The  high 
schools  must  offer  a  four-year  course,  of  forty  weeks  to  the 
year.  They  must  prepare  pupils  for  the  state  normal  schools, 
and  for  higher  scientific  schools  and  colleges.  There  are 
262  of  these  high  schools  in  the  state,  employing  1,312 
teachers.  In  1897  Massachusetts  paid  $12,390,638  for  pub- 
lic schools,  of  which  $2,400,000,  or  19  per  cent,  was  for  high 
schools.  In  1896,  the  total  municipal  tax  in  the  state  was 
$15.23  on  $1,000.  Of  this,  $4.72  was  for  public  schools, 
$0.91  of  which  was  for  high  schools.  These  figures  include 
the  cost  of  school  buildings  along  with  the  current  expense 
of  schools. 

The  organization  of  the  university  of  the  state  of  New 
York  has  been  mentioned  Only  so  much  of  the  varied 
activity  of  this  great  institution  calls  for  notice  here,  as  has 
to  do  with  secondary  schools.  This,  however,  presents  the 
most  thoroughly  organized  state  system  of  secondary  educa- 
tion which  has  yet  been  developed  on  American  soil.  All 
incorporated  secondary  schools  in  the  state  and  all  other 
secondary  schools  which  may,  after  official  inspection,  be 
admitted  to  membership  by  the  regents,  are  institutions  of 
the  university.  One  of  the  six  departments  into  which  the 
work  of  the  regents  is  divided  is  the  high  school  depart- 
ment, which  has  to  do  with  high  schools,  academies,  and  all 
interests  of  secondary  education.  Both  the  college  and  the 
high  school  department  are  under  one  department  director. 
He  is  assisted  by  nine  inspectors  of  schools,  one  of  whom  is 
employed  as  an  inspector  of  apparatus,  and  by  a  large  staff 
of  examiners. 

On  the  basis  of  reports  made  by  this  department,  the 
regents  distributed  in  1898  a  total  of  $209,250.48  in  state 
funds  to  the  secondary  schools  of  the  state.  The  method 
of  distribution  is  as  follows:  (a)  $100  is  allotted  to  each 
school  approved  by  the  regents,  without  regard  to  its  size  or 
special  attainments,  (b)  One  cent  is  allowed  for  each  day's 
attendance  of  each  student  in  such  schools  ;  provided  that 


193]  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  53 

each  student  so  counted  must  hold  a  "  regents'  preliminary- 
certificate  "  for  admission  to  the  school,  or  the  school  must 
be  approved  by  two  university  inspectors,  as  having  a  higher 
entrance  requirement  than  the  minimum  prescribed  for  the 
preliminary  certificate,  (c)  The  state  duplicates  the  amount 
raised  by  the  schools  for  the  purchase  of  approved  books  and 
apparatus  up  to  the  sum  of  $500  a  year  for  any  one  school, 
(d)  Grants  are  made  on  the  basis  of  credentials  obtained  by 
pupils  in  the  school  who  pass  the  regents'  examinations  —  a 
method  of  "payment  by  results".  In  1898,  of  the  money 
distributed  by  the  regents  to  secondary  schools,  about  25  per 
cent  came  under  item  (a)  ;  22  per  cent  under  item  (b)  ;  19 
per  cent  under  item  (c) ;  and  34  per  cent  under  item  (d). 

The  regents'  examinations  are  held  three  times  a  year. 
They  were  taken  in  1898  by  608  of  the  645  secondary  schools 
in  the  university.  The  diplomas  issued  by  the  regents  to 
graduates  of  secondary  schools  are  accepted  by  Cornell 
university  and  by  other  institutions  of  higher  education 
in  the  state,  in  lieu  of  entrance  examinations  in  the  subjects 
which  they  cover.  The  report  of  the  director  of  the  high 
school  department  for  1898  says  of  the  examinations:  "In 
June  1898  the  secretary  stated  to  the  regents  that  10  years' 
experience  had  confirmed  his  views,  given  to  the  board  in 
1889,  that  examinations  have  the  highest  educational  value 
and  that  the  small  minority  which  would  abolissh  them  are 
extremists.  It  is  believed,  however,  that  these  tests  would 
be  more  valuable  if  they  were  used  for  their  educational 
value  and  not  at  all  as  a  guide  in  distributing  public  money. 
Inspection  will  enable  us  in  most  cases  to  determine  satisfac- 
torily without  regents  examinations  whether  a  school  is 
maintaining  a  standard  deserving  aid  from  state  funds." 

A  syllabus  is  issued  by  the  regents  for  the  guidance  of 
instruction  in  university  institutions.  There  is  free  consul- 
tation between  the  officers  of  the  university  and  the  instruc- 
tors in  the  schools  with  reference  to  the  contents  of  this 
syllabus.  An  annual  university  convocation,  in  which  the 
representatives  of  all  divisions  of  the  university  meet  for 


54 


SECONDARY    EDUCATION  [194 


public  discussion,  forms  one  of  the  notable  educational  gath- 
erings of  the  country. 

In  Maryland,  a  law  of  the  year  1865  swept  away  the  old 
academy  system,  and  substituted  for  it  a  system  of  county 
high  schools.  This  radical  change  was  followed  by  a  reac- 
tion. Later  legislation  took  a  middle  course.  A  law  enacted 
in  1872  provided  for  the  establishment  of  high  schools  in 
the  several  counties,  to  be  under  the  control  of  the  boards 
of  county  school  commissioners,  or  of  district  boards 
appointed  by  them.  Each  of  these  high  schools  must  be 
"  visited  and  examined  annually  by  the  principal  of  the  State 
normal  school,  or  a  professor  thereof,"  and  must  also  be  vis- 
ited once  in  each  term  by  the  county  examiner.  The  sup- 
port of  these  high  schools  is  provided  for  by  the  county 
school  commissioners,  who  set  apart  for  that  purpose  a  por- 
tion of  the  ordinary  school  funds  received  from  the  state 
and  the  county.  At  the  same  time,  a  number  of  academies, 
about  twenty  in  all,  continue  to  receive  direct  donations, 
in  various  fixed  amounts,  from  the  treasury  of  the  state. 

We  find  in  Indiana  what  is  virtually  a  system  of  university 
accrediting  of  high  schools,  the  administration  of  which  has 
been  turned  over  to  the  state  board  of  education.  In  July, 
1873,  the  board  of  trustees  of  Indiana  university  adopted  a 
resolution  to  the  effect  that  a  certificate  "  from  certain  high 
schools"  should  entitle  the  bearer  to  admission  to  the  fresh- 
man class.  In  August  of  the  same  year,  the  state  board  of 
education  adopted  plans  under  which  the  high  schools  which 
were  worthy  of  such  recognition  should  be  designated  and 
commissioned.  In  1888  the  following  order  was  passed: 
"  That  hereafter  no  high  school  commission  be  granted 
except  on  a  favorable  report  in  writing,  to  be  made  to  the 
state  board  of  education,  by  some  member  of  the  state 
board,  who  shall  visit  the  high  school  in  question  as  a  com- 
mittee of  the  state  board  for  that  purpose. 

"  That  all  the  high  schools  now  in  commission  be  visited 
by  committees  of  the  board  as  soon  as  may  be,  and  that  the 
present  list  be  modified  by  the  reports  from  such  visitation. 


195]  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  55 

"  That  in  case  of  change  of  superintendent  in  any  com- 
missioned high  school,  the  commission  then  existing  shall 
be  in  force  until  a  visitation  shall  be  made  by  a  committee 
of  the  state  board." 

The  territory  of  the  state  was  divided  up  among  the  mem- 
bers of  the  board  for  the  purposes  of  such  visitation. 

By  such  simple  means  and  without  specific  legal  enact- 
ment, an  important  system  of  high  schools  has  been  built 
up.  These  schools  rest  upon  a  statutory  provision  authoriz- 
ing local  school  authorities  to  provide  for  the  teaching,  not 
only  of  the  elementary  branches,  in  English,  but  also  of 
"  such  other  branches  of  learning  and  other  languages  as 
the  advancement  of  the  pupils  may  require."  They  are 
supported  in  the  same  manner  as  the  elementary  schools. 

The  supervisory  power  of  the  state  board  of  education  is 
secured  by  the  broad  provision  that,  "  said  board  shall  take 
cognizance  of  such  questions  as  may  arise  in  the  practical 
administration  of  the  school  system  not  otherwise  provided 
for,  and  duly  consider,  discuss,  and  determine  the  same." 

This  board  consists  of  the  governor  of  the  state,  the  state 
superintendent  of  public  instruction,  the  respective  presi- 
dents of  the  State  university,  Purdue  university,  and  the 
State  normal  school,  the  school  superintendents  of  the  three 
largest  cities  in  the  state,  ex  officio,  and  "three  citizens  of 
prominence  actively  engaged  in  educational  work  in  the 
state,  appointed  by  the  governor."  A  four-year  course  of 
study  for  high  schools,  prepared  by  this  board,  is  recom- 
mended for  adoption  by  all  schools  which  seek  to  be  placed 
on  the  "commissioned  high  schools"  list.  The  board 
announces  that  commissions  will  be  granted  to  those  high 
schools  only  which  meet  the  following  requirements : 

1.  The  character  of  the  work  must  be  satisfactory. 

2.  The  high  school  course  must  be  not  less  than  thirty 
months  in  length,  counting  from  the  end  of  the  eighth  year. 

3.  The  whole  time  of  at  least  two  teachers  must  be  given 
to  the  high  school  work. 

4.  The  course  of  study  must  be  at  least  a  fair  equivalent 
of  that  recommended  by  the  state  board. 


56  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  [196 

It  will  be  seen  that  this  system  provides  for  inspection  of 
the  schools  only  at  long  and  irregular  intervals.  In  practice, 
this  defect  is  partially  overcome  by  the  close  oversight  which 
the  universities  exercise  over  those  members  of  their  fresh- 
man classes  who  enter  on  certificates  from  the  schools. 
Such  students  are  understood  to  be  admitted  to  the  uni- 
versity for  a  probationary  period,  in  which  they  may  show 
whether  or  not  they  have  been  properly  prepared  for  the 
work  they  have  undertaken. 

The  interest  in  secondary  education  which  has  grown  up 
under  this  system  has  extended  to  all  sections  of  the  state. 
There  are  now  151  high  schools  on  the  "commissioned"  list, 
including  those  of  the  more  populous  centers.  There  is 
growing  up,  also,  a  large  number  of  "township  high  schools" 
in  the  more  sparsely  settled  portions  of  the  state.  In  1891, 
there  were  125  such  schools  with  an  enrollment  of  920  pupils. 
In  1898,  the  number  had  grown  to  389,  with  an  enrollment 
of  8,459  pupils.  Seven  of  these  schools  have  been  placed 
on  the  "  commissioned  "  list. 

The  Wisconsin  state  system  of  free  high  schools  was 
established  in  1875.  ^^  provides  for  the  maintenance  of 
high  schools  by  towns,  incorporated  villages,  cities,  or  school 
districts  or  sub-districts  containing  incorporated  villages  or 
two-department  graded  schools  within  their  limits.  Two  or 
more  adjoining  towns,  or  one  or  more  towns  and  an  incorpo- 
rated village,  may  unite  in  establishing  and  maintaining  a 
high  school.  These  schools  are  managed  by  local  high 
school  boards,  which  are  commonly,  but  not  always,  identical 
with  the  boards  for  elementary  schools.  They  are  supported 
primarily  by  local  taxation ;  but  a  district  is  entitled  to 
receive  from  the  general  fund  of  the  state  a  sum'  not  exceed- 
ing one-half  the  amount  actually  expended  for  instruction  in 
the  high  school  of  such  district,  and  not  exceeding  five 
hundred  dollars  in  any  one  year ;  provided  the  school  has 
been  kept  in  accordance  with  certain  requirements  prescribed 
by  law,  and  provided  further  that  the  total  amount  paid  from 
the  state  treasury  for  this  purpose  in  any  one  year  shall  not 


197]  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  57 

exceed  fifty  thousand  dollars.  Such  a  school  is  under  the 
direct  inspection  and  oversight  of  the  state  superintendent. 
To  receive  state  aid,  a  school  must  establish  and  maintain  a 
course  of  study  prescribed,  or  at  least  approved,  by  that 
official ;  and  must  be  taught  by  teachers  whose  certificates 
he  has  approved.  The  state  superintendent  issues  a  manual 
for  the  guidance  of  these  schools,  containing  general  sug- 
gestions, courses  of  study,  an  outline  of  subjects  and  methods 
of  instruction,  and  the  text  of  the  high  school  law.  He  is 
assisted  in  the  visitation  and  supervision  which  the  law 
prescribes  by  an  inspector  of  free  high  schools,  whom  he 
appoints. 

An  effort  has  been  made  in  Wisconsin  to  encourage  the 
building  up  of  high  schools  in  the  less  thickly  settled  por- 
tions of  the  state.  This  undertaking  has  met  with  only  a 
moderate  degree  of  success.  Here  as  elsewhere  it  has  been 
found  difficult  to  promote  the  general  establishment  of  such 
schools  by  other  units  of  civil  administration  than  those 
which  establish  and  maintain  elementary  schools.  In  Wis- 
consin the  elementary  schools  are  governed  and  supported 
by  district  school  authorities,  and  not  by  township  boards. 

In  the  cities  and  towns  of  Wisconsin,  the  high  schools  are 
making  marked  progress,  under  the  system  of  state  super- 
vision. Within  the  past  few  years,  many  of  them  have  been 
housed  in  fine,  new  buildings,  provided  with  excellent  labora- 
tories for  instruction  in  the  natural  sciences.  Important 
beginnings  have  been  made  also  in  the  equipment  of  some 
of  the  schools  for  courses  in  manual  training.  State  aid,  to 
the  amount  of  $250  a  year  for  any  one  school,  is  extended 
to  such  courses  by  special  provisions  of  the  high  school  law. 
In  the  spring  of  1899  six  schools  were  receiving  such  special 
aid.  At  the  same  time  there  were  in  all  211  state-aided  high 
schools  in  Wisconsin.  Of  these  56  had  a  three-year  course 
and  155  a  course  four  years  in  length.  Of  the  four-year 
schools,  no  were  accredited  to  the  University  of  Wisconsin. 
The  accrediting  system  was  introduced  by  the  university  in 
1878,  and  is  carried  on  independently  of  the  state  system  of 


58  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  [198 

inspection.  About  a  dozen  of  the  largest  and  strongest  high 
schools  in  the  state  are  not  included  among  those  receiving 
state  aid. 

The  courses  of  study  are  commonly  designated  as  the 
English,  the  general  science,  the  modern  classical,  and  the 
ancient  classical  course.  A  given  school  will  ordinarily 
establish  the  English  course  first,  and  will  from  time  to  time 
add  the  others  in  the  order  named.  There  were  in  1899  ten 
schools  in  the  state  which  carried  the  full  classical  course. 

Minnesota  has  maintained  a  state  system  of  high  schools 
since  1881.  At  the  head  of  this  system  stands  the  state  high 
school  board,  consisting  of  the  governor,  the  superintendent 
of  public  instruction,  and  the  president  of  the  University  of 
Minnesota,  ex  officio.  This  board  appoints  a  high  school 
inspector  and  a  graded  school  inspector.  Any  public  high 
school  in  the  state  may  become  a  state  high  school,  and  is 
then  entitled  to  receive  from  the  state  the  sum  of  eight  hun- 
dred dollars  annually.  To  be  a  state  high  school,  it  must 
admit  students  of  either  sex  from  any  part  of  the  state  with- 
out charge  for  tuition,  must  provide  a  course  of  study  cover- 
ing the  requirements  for  admission  to  the  University  of 
Minnesota,  and  must  be  subject  to  the  rules  and  open  to  the 
inspection  of  the  state  high  school  board.  This  board  deter- 
mines, on  the  basis  of  the  reports  of  its  inspector,  what 
schools  are  entitled  to  the  bounty  of  the  state ;  but  not 
more  than  five  schools  may  receive  such  aid  in  any  one 
county  in  any  one  year.  Provision  is  also  made  for  state 
graded  schools,  of  lower  rank  than  the  state  high  schools ; 
and  for  the  promotion  of  such  schools  to  the  rank  of  state 
high  schools  when  they  have  attained  such  a  degree  of 
advancement  as  to  entitle  them  to  that  designation. 

The  state  high  school  board  conducts  a  written  examina- 
tion of  classes  in  the  schools  twice  a  year.  Students  who 
successfully  pass  such  examinations,  in  any  of  the  high 
school  subjects,  receive  certificates  for  the  subjects  so 
covered ;  and  these  certificates  are  accepted  by  the  university 
and  the  normal  schools  of  the  state  in  lieu  of  entrance  exam- 


199]  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  59 

inations  in  the  subjects  specified.  The  taking  of  this  state 
examination  is  ordinarily  optional  with  the  school ;  and  no 
grants  of  money  are  based  on  examination  results.  The 
state  board  may,  however,  require  a  school  to  take  an  exam- 
ination as  a  part  of  the  annual  inspection.  "  The  main  pur- 
pose of  state  examinations ",  as  stated  by  the  inspector  of 
high  schools  in  his  report  for  1898,  "is  not  to  test  the  stu- 
dents, but  to  promote  the  general  efficiency  of  the  schools." 

Perhaps  the  most  significant  thing  about  the  Minnesota 
system  is  the  encouragement  it  gives  to  high  schools  in  the 
smaller  towns.  Communities  all  over  the  state  tax  them- 
selves freely  to  supplement  the  bounty  distributed  by  the 
state  board. 

Laboratory  apparatus  for  the  high  schools  is  made  at  the 
state  prison  and  sold  to  the  schools  at  cost.  For  the  year 
1898-99,  there  were  1 10  graded  schools  and  97  high  schools, 
under  the  supervision  of  the  state  high  school  board. 

Several  other  states  have  made  marked  advance  within  the 
past  few  years  in  the  direction  of  improved  systems  of  sec- 
ondary schools.  These  improvements  have  been  gained 
through  the  untiring  efforts  of  devoted  friends  of  education, 
and  should  receive  notice  in  such  a  place  as  this.  But  lack 
of  space  forbids.  There  is  reason  to  regret,  along  with  this 
omission,  the  unavoidable  passing  over  of  influential  move- 
ments and  important  institutions  which  are  in  every  way 
deserving  of  mention  along  with  those  which  have  been 
noticed  ;  but  the  time  has  been  wanting  to  consider  fully  the 
proportionate  importance  of  these  things,  as  well  as  the 
space  for  a  full  exposition  of  them  all. 


6o 


SECONDARY    EDUCATION 


[200 


STATISTICS 


Through  the  courtesy  of  the  United  States  commissioner 
of  education,  the  following  statistics  for  the  whole  country 
for  the  year  1897-98  are  presented  in  advance  of  their  pub- 
lication by  the  bureau  of  education  : 


TABLE  I 

STATISTICS   OF  SECONDARY   SCHOOLS  FOR    1 897-98 


Public 
high  schools 


Private 
high  schools 


Public  and 

private 
high  schools 


Number  of  schools  reporting. . . 
Teachers  of  secondary  students 

Male 

Female 

Secondary  students 

Male 

Female 

Secondary   students    preparing 
for  college. . 
Classical  course 

Male 

Female 

.Scientific 

Male 

Female 

Graduates  in  the  class  of  1898 

Male 

Female 

College  preparatory  students  in 
the  graduating  class 

Male 

Female 


courses. 


5315 

17  941 

8542 

9  399 
449600 
189  187 
260413 

51  066 
27935 
13575 
14360 

23  131 
12  056 

II  075 
53022 
19247 
33  775 

14552 
6  699 

7853 


1990 
9  357 
4075 

5  282 
105  225 

52  172 

53053 

26693 
16  361 

11  128 

5233 
10332 

7429 
2903 

12  148 

6  302 
5846 

5388 
3628 
I  760 


7305 
27  298 
12  617 
14  681 

554825 

241  359 
313466 

77  759 
44296 

24703 

19593 
33463 
19485 
13978 
65  170 

25549 
39621 

19940 

10327 

9613 


20l] 


SECONDARY    EDUCATION 


6l 


/ 


T^ABLE   II 


STUDENTS    IN    CERTAIN   COURSES    AND    STUDIES    IN    PUBLIC  HIGH 

SCHOOLS  IN  1897-98 


COURSES,  STUDIES, 
ETC. 


Students  preparing  for 
college  : 
Classical  course.,.. 
Scientific  courses.. 

Total   preparing  for 
college 


Graduating  in  1898. . . . 
College        preparatory 

students  in  graduat- 
ing class' 

Students  in 

Latin 

Greek  

French  

German 

Algebra 

Geometry 

Trigonometry 

Astronomy 

Physics   

Chemistry 

Physical  geography  . 

Geology 

Physiology 

Psychology  

Rhetoric 

English  literature... 

History  (other  than 
United  States). . . . 

Civics  


Number 
students 


27935 
23  131 


51  066 


53  022 


14552 

223  307 
14  021 
33917 
59  577 
252  358 
121  813 
10  200 
17  170 
93038 

37  329 

112  133 

19  646 

134  785 

12  325 

161  724 

180  156 

169  478 
102  242 


Per  cent 
to  total 
number 
secondary- 
students 


6.21 

5-15 


11.36 


11.79 


27-45 

49.67 

312 

7.54 

13.25 

56.13 

27.09 

2.27 

3.82 

20.69 

8.30 

24.94 

4.37 
29.98 

2.74 
35-97 
40.07 

37.70 
22.74 


Male 
students 


13  575 
12  056 


25  631 


19247 


6  699 

87  529 

7656 

12  006 

23  336 

106  676 

49787 
4  966 

6  351 
39  493 
16  450 

47074 

7  725 
57392 

4  355 
66  949 
74014 

69  636 
43  997 


Per  cent 
to  total 
number 

male 
students 


7.18 
6.37 


13-55 


10.17 


34-81 

46.27 

4-05 

6.35 

12.34 

56.39 

26.32 

2.63 

3.36 

20.88 

8.70 

24.88 

4.08 

30.34 
2.30 

35-39 
39.12 

36.81 
23.26 


Female 
students 


14  360 
II  075 


25435 


33  775 


7853 

135  778 

6365 

21  911 

36  241 

145  682 

72  026 

5  234 

10  819 

53  545 
20  879 

65059 

11  921 

77  393 
7970 

94  775 
106  142 

99842 
58245 


Per  cent 
to  total 

number 
female 

students 


5.52 
4-25 


9-77 


12.97 


23-25 

52.14 
2.44 
8.41 

13.92 

55-94 

27.66 

2.01 

4-15 
20.56 

8.02 
24.98 

4.58 
29.72 

3.06 

36.39 
40.76 

38-34 
22.37 


*  Per  cent  to  number  of  graduates. 


62 


SECONDARY    EDUCATION 


[202 


TABLE  III 

STUDENTS  IN  CERTAIN  COURSES  AND  STUDIES  IN  PRIVATE  HIGH 
SCHOOLS   AND   ACADEMIES   IN    1 897-98 


COURSES,  STUDIES, 
ETC. 


Students  preparing  for 
college: 

Classical  course 

Scientific  courses... . 

Total   preparing  for 
college 


Graduating  in  1898. . . . 
College        preparatory 

students  in  graduat- 
ing class' 

Students  in 

Latin 

Greek  

French  

German 

Algebra 

Geometry 

Trigonometry 

Astronomy 

Physics 

Chemistry 

Physical  geography. 

Geology 

Physiology 

Psychology 

Rhetoric 

English  literature... 

History 

Civics  


Number 
students 


16  361 
10332 


26  693 


5388 

50986 
10973 

24  248 

19  417 

54  397 

25  702 

5  519 
7  263 

20  612 
10  119 
22  849 

6  205 
28  205 

7873 

34  124 

35  654 
39556 
16565 


Percent 
to  total 
number 
secondary 
students 


15-54 
9.82 


25-36 


11-54 


44-35 

48.45 
10.43 
23.04 
18.45 
51-70 
24-43 

5-25 

6.91 
19.59 

9.62 
21.79 

5.90 
26.80 

7-48 
32.43 
33-88 

37.59 
15-74 


Male 
students 


II  128 
7429 


18557 


6  302 


3628 

27  908 
8983 
8682 
9719 

29470 

14  791 

3  447 

2  188 

10  230 

4991 

10555 
2  506 

12  561 
2  814 

15  164 

15  709 
18346 

7  975 


Per  cent 
to  total 
number 

male 
students 


21.33 
14.23 


35-56 


12.08 


57-57 

53-49 
17.21 
16.64 
18.63 
56.49 
28.35 
6.61 
4.19 
19.61 

9-57 
20.23 

4.80 
24.08 

5-39 
29.07 
30.11 
35-16 
15-29 


Female 
students 


5  233 
2  903 


8  136 


5846 


I  760 

23  078 

1  990 
15  566 

9698 
24927 
10  911 

2  072 

5075 
10  382 

5  128 
12  294 

3699 
15  644 

5059 
18  960 

19945 

21  210 

8  590 


Per  cent 
to  total 

number 
female 

students 


9.86 

5-47 


15-33 


30. 11 

43-50 

3-75 

29-34 

18.28 

46-99 
20.57 

3-91 

9-57 
19-57 

9-67 
23.17 

6.97 
29.49 

9-54 
35-74 
37-59 
39-98 
16.19 


*  Per  cent  to  number  of  graduates. 


203] 


SECONDARY    EDUCATION 


63 


TABLE  IV' 

STUDENTS  IN  CERTAIN  COURSES  AND  STUDIES   IN  PUBLIC  AND  PRI- 
VATE HIGH  SCHOOLS  AND  ACADEMIES  IN   1 897-98 


COURSES,  STUDIES, 
ETC. 

Number 
students 

Per  cent 

to  total 

number 

secondary 

students 

Male 
students 

Per  cent 

to  total 

number 

male 

students 

Female 
students 

Per  cent 
to  total 
number 
female 

students 

Students  preparing  for 
college: 

Classical  course 

Scientific  courses  . . . 

44296 
33463 

77  759 

7.99 
6.03 

24703 
19485 

44  188 

10.24 
8.07 

19593 
13978 

6.25 
4.46 

Total   preparing  for 
college 

14.02 

18.31 

33  571 

10.71 

Graduating  in  1898. . . . 

College        preparatory 
students  in  graduat- 
ing class  * 

65 170 

19940 

274  293 
24994 
58165 
78994 

306  755 
147  515 

15  719 

24433 
113  650 

47448 
134  982 

25851 
162  990 

20  198 
195  848 
215  810 

209034 
118  807 

11.75 

30.60 

49.44 

4.50 

10.48 

14.24 

55.29 
26.59 

2.83 

4.40 
20.48 

8.55 
24.33 

4.66 
29.38 

3.64 
35.30 
38.90 

37.68 
21.41 

25549 

10327 

115  437 
16  639 
20688 

33055 

136  146 

64578 

8413 

8539 
49723 
21  441 
57629 
10  231 

69953 

7  169 

82  113 

89723 

87  982 
51972 

10.59 

40.42 

47.83 
6.89 

8.57 
13.70 

56.41 
26.76 

3.49 

3.54 
20.60 

8.88 
23.88 

4.24 
28.98 

2.97 
34.02 
37.18 

36.45 
21.53 

39  621 

9613 

158  856 

8355 

37  477 

45  939 

170  609 

82937 
7306 
15  894 
63927 
26  007 

77  353 
15  620 

93037 

13  029 

"3  735 

126  087 

121  052 
66835 

12.64 
24.26 

Students  in 

Latin 

50.68 
2.67 

Greek 

French 

11.96 
14.66 

German 

Algebra  

54.43 

Geometry 

Trigonometry 

Astronomy 

26.46 

2.33 
5.07 

Physics 

20.39 

Chemistry 

8.30 

Physical  geography.. 
Geolocv 

24.68 
4.98 

Physiolocv 

29.68 

Psycholoev 

4.16 

Rhetoric 

36.28 

English  literature. . . 
History   (other  than 

United  States) 

Civics  

40.22 

38.62 
21.32 

*  Result  of  combing  tables  II  and  III. 
'  Per  cent  to  number  of  graduates. 


64 


SECONDARY    EDUCATION 


[204 


TABLE  V 

NUMBER  AND  PER  CENT  OF  STUDENTS  PURSUING  CERTAIN  STUDIES 
IN  PUBLIC  AND  PRIVATE  SECONDARY  SCHOOLS,  189O  TO  1898, 
IN   FOUR-YEAR  PERIODS. 


1889-^ 

1893-94 

1897-98 

Number 
of 

students 

Per  cent 
to 

total 

Number 

of 
students 

Per  cent 

to 

total 

Number 

of 
students 

Per  cent 

to 

total 

Total  number  of  sec- 
ondary students. . . 

Number  studying 
Latin 

297  894 

100  144 
12  869 
28  032 

34  208 

127  397 

59  789 

63  644 
28665 

33-62 

4-32 
9.41 

11.48 

42.77 
20.07 

21.36 
9.62 

407  919 

177  898 
20353 
42  072 
52  152 
215  023 
103  054 
15  500 
97  974 
42  066 

43-59 
4-99 
10.31 
12.78 
52.71 
25-25 
3.80 
24.02 
10.31 

554  814 

274  293 
24994 
58  165 
78  994 

306  755 

147  515 
15  719 

113  650 

47448 

49.44 
4.50 

Greek 

French    

German 

10.45 
14.24 

55-29 
26.59 

2.83 
20.48 

8.55 

Algebra  

Geometry 

Trigonometry 

Physics 

Chemistry 

SELECTED    BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Reports  of  the  commissioner  of  education.  Washington,  annual 
publication. 

These  reports  include  a  great  deal  of  statistical  information  relating  to  sec- 
ondary education.  Since  1871  they  have  presented  statistics  of  private  high 
schools,  academies,  etc.;  since  1876,  of  city  high  schools;  since  1886-87,  o^ 
students  pursuing  each  of  the  more  common  secondary  school  studies;  since 
1889-90,  of  public  high  schools  not  included  in  city  school  systems. 

Adams,  Herbert  B.  (Editor).  Contributions  to  American  educa- 
tional history.     Washington,  1887-. 

Published  as  circulars  of  information  of  the  United  States  bureau  of  educa- 
tion. Nineteen  monographs  have  already  appeared  in  this  series,  the  most 
of  which  contain  matter  relating  to  the  history  of  secondary  schools. 

Boone,  Richard  G.  Education  in  the  United  States,  its  history 
from  the  earliest  settlements.  New  York,  D.  Appleton  and 
Company,  1893. 

Contains  several  chapters  on  the  history  of  secondary  education. 


205]  SECONDARY    EDUCATION  65 

Report  of  the  committee  on  secondary  school  studies  appointed 
at  the  meeting  of  the  National  educational  association,  July 
9,  1892,  with  the  reports  of  the  conferences  arranged  by  this 
committee  and  held  December  28-30,  1892.    Washington,  1893. 

Better  known  as  the  report  of  the  committee  of  ten.  It  has  been  repub- 
lished by  the  American  Book  Company  (New  York)  for  the  National  educa- 
tional association. 

Report  of  committee  on  college  entrance  requirements,  July,  1899. 

Published  by  the  National  educational  association,  1899. 

The  American  journal  of  education.  [Barnard's]  Vols.  1-3 1. 
Hartford,  Conn.,  1856-1881. 

These  volumes  contain  a  great  amount  of  matter  relating  to  the  history  of 
American  secondary  schools. 

The  Academy,  a  journal  of  secondary  education.  Issued  monthly 
under  the  auspices  of  the  associated  academic  principals  of  the 
state  of  New  York.    Vols.  1-8.    Syracuse  and  Boston,  1886-1892. 

School  and  college,  devoted  to  secondary  and  higher  education. 
One  volume  only,  Boston,  1892. 

The  school  review,  a  journal  of  secondary  education.  Vols,  i- 
(current  publication).     Chicago,  1893-. 

The  educational  review.  Vols.  i-(current  publication).  New- 
York,  1891-. 

To  these  should  be  added  the  annual  reports  of  the  sev- 
eral school  systems  mentioned  in  this  monograph,  the  vol- 
umes of  proceedings  of  the  various  associations  of  teachers 
to  which  reference  has  been  made,  and  the  annual  catalogs 
and  occasional  anniversary  publications  of  the  more  impor- 
tant schools. 


Department  of  Education 

FOR  THE 

United    States   Commission    to    the    Paris    Exposition   of   1900 


MONOGRAPHS    ON     EDUCATION 


UNITED     STATES 

EDITED  BY 

NICHOLAS  MURRAY  BUTLER 
Professor  of  Philosophy  and  Education  in  Columbia  University,  New  York 


THE   AMERICAN   COLLEGE 


/ 

ANDREW  FLEMING  WEST 
Professor  of  Latin  in  Princeton  University,  Princeton,  Newfersey 


This  Monograph  is  contributed  to  the  United  States  Educational  Exhibit  by  the 

State  of  New  York. 


THE  AMERICAN  COLLEGE 


I    ITS    PLACE    AND    IMPORTANCE 

The  American  college  has  no  exact  counterpart  in  the 
educational  system  of  any  other  country.  The  elements 
which  compose  it  are  derived,  it  is  true,  from  European  sys- 
tems, and  in  particular  from  Great  Britain.  But  the  form 
under  which  these  elements  have  been  finally  compounded  is 
a  form  suggested  and  almost  compelled  by  the  needs  of  our 
national  life.  Of  course  it  is  far  from  true  to  say  that  Ameri- 
can colleges  have  been  uninfluenced  in  their  organization 
by  European  tradition.  On  the  contrary,  the  primary  form 
of  organization  found  in  our  earliest  colleges,  such  as  Har- 
vard, Yale  and  Princeton,  is  inherited  from  the  collegiate  life 
of  the  University  of  Cambridge.  But  it  was  subjected  to 
modification  at  the  very  beginning,  in  order  to  adapt  the 
infant  college  to  its  community,  and  progressively  modified 
from  time  to  time  in  order  to  keep  in  close  sympathy  with 
the  civil,  ecclesiastical  and  social  character  of  the  growing 
American  nation.  The  outcome  of  all  this  has  been  an 
institution  which,  while  deriving  by  inheritance  the  elements 
of  its  composition,  and  in  some  sense  its  form,  has  managed 
to  develop  for  itself  a  form  of  organization  which  notably 
differs  from  the  old-world  schools. 

Moreover  the  college,  as  might  be  expected  from  the  fore- 
going considerations,  occupies  the  place  of  central  importance 
in  the  historic  outworking  of  American  higher  education, 
and  remains  to-day  the  one  repository  and  shelter  of  liberal 
education  as  distinguished  from  technical  or  commercial 
training,  the  only  available  foundation  for  the  erectionoC 
universities  containing  faculties  devoted  to  the  maintenance 
of  pure  learning,  and  the  only  institution  which  can  furnish 
the  preparation  which  is  always  desired,  even  though  it  is  not 


4  THE  AMERICAN  COLLEGE  [2IO 

yet  generally  exacted,  by  the  better  professional  schools. 
Singularly  enough,  but  not  unnaturally,  the  relation  of  direc- 
tive influence  sustained  to-day  by  our  colleges  to  the  univer- 
sity problem  is  not  unlike  the  relation  held  in  the  middle 
ages  by  the  inferior  faculty  of  arts  at  the  University  of  Paris 
to  the  affairs  of  the  university  as  a  whole/  The  points  of 
resemblance  are  marked  and  are  of  a  generic  character.  In 
both  cases  the  college,  or  faculty  of  arts,  appears  as  the 
preliminary  instructor  in  the  essentials  of  liberal  education. 
In  both  cases  this  earlier  education  is  recognized  as  the 
proper  prerequisite  for  later  study  in  the  professional  facul- 
ties. In  both  cases  the  inferior  faculty,  even  if  still  undevel- 
oped or  but  partially  developed,  contains  the  germ  of  the 
higher  university  faculty  of  pure  learning,  the  faculty  of 
arts,  sciences  and  philosophy.  In  this  there  is  much  that  is 
remarkable,  but  nothing  novel.  For  the  American  college 
in  this  respect  merely  perpetuates  and  develops  a  funda- 
mental tradition  of  liberal  learning,  which  found  its  way 
from  Paris  through  Oxford  to  Cambridge,  and  then  from 
Cambridge  to  our  shores.  The  parallel  of  our  college  his- 
tory with  the  old-world  history  holds  good  in  other  impor- 
tant respects,  and  would  be  most  interesting  to  trace.  Still, 
in  order  to  understand  the  precise  nature  and  unique  influ- 
ence of  the  college  in  American  education,  it  is  not  neces- 
sary here  to  trace  step  by  step  the  story  of  its  development, 
for  in  its  various  forms  of  present  organization  it  reveals  not 
only  the  normal  type  which  has  been  evolved,  but  also  sur- 
vivals of  past  stages  of  development,  instances  of  variation 
and  even  of  degeneration  from  the  type,  and  interesting 
present  experiments  which  may  to  some  extent  foreshadow 
the  future. 

II  THE  OLD  FASHIONED  COLLEGE 

The  three  commonly  accepted  divisions  of  education  into 
the  primary,  secondary  and  higher  stages,  while  fully  recog- 
nized in  America,  are  not  followed  rigorously  in  our  organi- 

'  Rashdall  :  Universities  of  Europe  in  the  Middle  Ages.     Chap.  I,  p.  318. 


2Il]  THE  AMERICAN  COLLEGE  5 

zation.  The  primary  education  is  more  clearly  separable 
from  the  secondary  than  is  the  secondary  from  the  higher 
or  university  stage.  The  chief  cause  for  this  partial  blend- 
ing, or  perhaps  confusion,  of  the  secondary  and  higher 
stages  is  the  college.  However  illogical  and  even  practi- 
cally indefensible  such  a  mixture  may  appear  in  the  eyes  of 
some  very  able  critics,  it  is  still  true  that  the  historical  out- 
working of  this  partial  blending  of  two  different  things, 
commonly  and  wisely  separated  in  other  systems,  has  been 
compelled  by  the  exigencies  of  our  history  and  has  at  the 
same  time  been  fruitful  in  good  results. 

Let  us  then  take  as  the  starting  point  of  our  inquiry  the 
fact  that  the  American  college,  as  contrasted  with  European 
schools,  is  a  composite  thing  —  partly  secondary  and  partly 
higher  in  its  organization.  It  consists  regularly  of  a  four- 
year  course  of  study  leading  to  the  bachelor's  degree.  Up 
to  the  close  of  the  civil  war  (i  861-1865)  it  was  mainly  an 
institution  of  secondary  education,  with  some  anticipations 
of  university  studies  toward  the  end  of  the  course.  But 
even  these  embryonic  university  studies  were  usually  taught 
as  rounding  out  the  course  of  disciplinary  education,  rather 
than  as  subjects  of  free  investigation.  Boys  entered  college 
when  they  were  fifteen  or  sixteen  years  of  age.  The  average 
age  of  graduation  did  not  exceed  twenty  years.  The  usual 
course  of  preparation  in  the  best  secondary  schools  occupied 
four  years,  but  many  students  took  only  three  or  even  two 
years.  In  the  better  schools  they  studied  Latin  and  Greek 
grammar,  four  books  of  Caesar,  six  books  of  Virgil's  vEneid, 
six  orations  of  Cicero,  three  books  of  Xenophon's  Anabasis 
and  two  of  Homer's  Iliad,  together  with  arithmetic,  plane 
geometry  (not  always  complete)  and  algebra  to,  or  at  most 
through,  quadratic  equations.  There  were  variations  from 
this  standard,  but  in  general  it  may  be  safely  asserted  that 
the  Latin,  Greek  and  mathematics  specified  above  consti- 
tuted as  much  as  the  stronger  colleges  required  for  entrance  ; 
while  many  weaker  ones  with  younger  students  and  lower 
standards  were  compelled  to  teach  some  of  these  prepara- 


6  THE  AMERICAN  COLLEGE  [212 

tory  studies  in  the  first  year  or  the  first  two  years  of  the 
college  course.  With  but  few  and  unimportant  exceptions 
the  four-year  course  consisted  of  prescribed  studies.  They 
were  English  literature  and  rhetoric,  Latin,  Greek,  mathe- 
matics, natural  philosophy,  chemistry,  the  elements  of  deduc- 
tive logic,  moral  philosopy,  and  political  economy,  and  often 
a  little  psychology  and  metaphysics.  Perhaps  some  ancient 
or  general  history  was  added.  French  and  German  were 
sometimes  taught,  but  not  to  an  important  degree.  At  grad- 
uation the  student  received  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  arts, 
and  then  entered  on  the  study  of  law,  medicine  or  theology  at 
some  professional  school,  or  went  into  business  or  into  teach- 
ing in  the  primary  or  secondary  schools.  Such  was,  in  barest 
outline,  the  scheme  of  college  education  a  generation  ago. 

Ill    THE    COLLEGE    OF     TO-DAY  ;     PROPOSALS    TO    SHORTEN    THE 

COURSE 

At  the  present  time  things  are  very  different.  With  the 
vast  growth  of  the  country  in  wealth  and  population  since 
the  civil  war  there  has  come  a  manifold  development.  The 
old  four-year  course,  consisting  entirely  of  a  single  set  of 
prescribed  studies  leading  to  the  one  degree  of  bachelor 
of  arts,  has  grown  and  branched  in  many  ways.  It  has 
been  modified  from  below,  from  above  and  from  within. 
The  better  preparation  now  given  in  thousands  of  schools 
has  enabled  colleges  to  ask  for  somewhat  higher  entrance 
requirements  and,  what  is  more  important,  to  exact  them  with 
greater  firmness.  The  age  of  entrance  has  increased,  until 
at  the  older  and  stronger  colleges  the  average  is  now  about 
eighteen  and  a  half  years.  A  four-year  course  leading  to  a 
bachelor's  degree  remains,  although  in  some  quarters  the 
increasing  age  of  the  students  is  creating  a  tendency  to 
shorten  the  course  to  three  years,  in  order  that  young  men 
may  not  be  kept  back  too  long  from  entering  upon  their 
professional  studies.  It  was  an  easy  thing  a  generation 
ago  for  young  men  to  graduate  at  twenty,  and  a  bright 
man  could  do  it  earlier  without  difificulty.     After  two   or 


213]  THE    AMERICAN    COLLEGE  7 

three  years  spent  in  studying  law  or  medicine  he  was  ready 
to  practice  his  profession,  and  then  began  to  earn  his  living 
at  the  age  of  twenty-two  or  twenty-three.  This  was  within 
his  reach.  But  to-day  a  college  student  is  twenty-two 
years  old  at  graduation  —  as  old  as  his  father  or  grand- 
father were  when  they  had  finished  their  professional  studies. 
If  he  follows  in  their  steps,  he  must  wait  until  he  is  twenty- 
five  to  begin  earning  his  living.  Accordingly  boys  are  now 
passing  in  considerable  numbers  directly  from  secondary 
schools,  which  do  not  really  complete  their  secondary  educa- 
tion, to  the  professional  schools,  thus  omitting  college  alto- 
gether. If  this  continues  the  effect  both  on  colleges  and  pro- 
fessional schools  will  be  discouraging.  The  problem  is  an  eco- 
nomic one,  and  it  is  affecting  college  courses  of  study.  One 
solution,  as  suggested  above,  is  to  shorten  the  course  to  three 
years.  This  has  been  advocated  by  President  Eliot  of  Har- 
vard. Three  years  is  the  length  of  the  course  in  the  under- 
graduate college  established  in  connection  with  the  Johns 
Hopkins  university.  Another  proposal  is  to  keep  the  four- 
year  course  and  allow  professional  in  place  of  liberal  studies 
in  the  last  year,  thus  enabling  the  student  to  save  one  year 
in  the  professional  school.  This  experiment  is  being  tried 
at  Columbia.  A  third  proposal  is  to  keep  the  college  course 
absolutely  free  from  professional  studies,  but  to  give  abun- 
dant opportunities  in  the  last  year  or  even  the  last  two  years 
to  pursue  the  liberal  courses  which  most  clearly  underlie 
professional  training,  thus  saving  a  year  of  professional 
study.  That  is,  teach  jurisprudence  and  history,  but  not 
technical  law,  or  teach  chemistry  and  biology,  but.  not  techni- 
cal medicine,  or  teach  Greek,  oriental  languages,  history  and 
philosophy,  but  not  technical  theology.  This  seems  to  be 
the  trend  of  recent  experiments  in  Yale  and  Princeton. 
The  one  common  consideration  in  favor  of  all  these  pro- 
posals is  that  a  year  is  saved.  Against  the  three-year  course, 
however,  it  is  argued  that  there  is  no  need  to  abolish  the 
four-year  course  in  order  to  save  a  yean  Against  the 
admission  of  professional  studies  it  is  argued  that  work  done 


8  THE  AMERICAN  COLLEGE  [2 1 4 

in  a  professional  school  ought  not  to  count  at  the  same  time 
toward  two  degrees  representing  two  radically  different 
things.  Against  the  proposal  to  allow  the  liberal  studies 
which  most  closely  underlie  the  professions,  it  is  argued  that 
this  is  a  half-way  measure,  after  all.  Nevertheless  for  the 
present,  and  probably  for  a  long  time  in  most  colleges,  the 
four-year  course  is  assured. 

IV     ALTERATIONS  IN  THE  CONTENT  OF  THE  COURSE  AND  IN  THE 
MEANING  OF  THE  BACHELOR'S  DEGREE 

The  four-year  course,  however,  no  longer  leads  solely  to 
the  degree  of  bachelor  of  arts,  nor  has  this  old  degree  itself 
remained  unmodified.  With  the  founding  of  schools  of 
science,  aiming  to  give  a  modern  form  of  liberal  education 
based  mainly  on  the  physical  and  natural  sciences,  and  yet 
only  too  often  giving  under  this  name  a  technological  course, 
or  a  somewhat  incongruous  mixture  of  technical  and  liberal 
studies,  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  science  came  into  use  as  a 
college  degree.  Then  intermediate  courses  were  consti- 
tuted, resting  on  Latin,  the  modern  languages,  history, 
philosophy,  mathematics  and  science,  and  thus  the  degree  of 
bachelor  of  letters  or  bachelor  of  philosophy  came  into  use. 
Sometimes  the  various  courses  in  civil,  mechanical,  mining 
or  electrical  engineering  were  made  four-year  undergradu- 
ate courses  with  their  corresponding  engineering  degrees 
virtually  rated  as  bachelor's  degrees.  Still  other  degrees 
of  lesser  importance  came  into  vogue  and  obtained  a  foot- 
ing here  and  there  ac  proper  degrees  to  mark  the  comple- 
tion of  a  four-year  college  course.  The  dispersing  pressure 
of  the  newer  studies  and  the  imperious  practical  demands 
of  American  life  proved  too  strong  either  to  be  held  in  form 
or  to  be  kept  out  by  the  barriers  of  the  old  course  of  purely 
liberal  studies  with  its  single  and  definite  bachelor  of  arts 
degree.  New  degrees  were  accordingly  added  to  represent 
the  attempted  organization  of  the  newer  tendencies  in  courses 
of  study  according  to  their  various  types.  The  organiza- 
tion of   such  courses  was  naturally  embarrassed  by  grave 


215]  THE  AMERICAN  COLLEGE         i  9 

difficulties  which  are  as  yet  only  partially  overcome.  Com- 
pared with  the  old  course  they  lacked  and  still  lack  defi- 
niteness  of  structure.  They  aimed  to  realize  new  and 
imperfectly  understood  conceptions  of  education,  and  were 
composed  of  studies  whose  inner  content  was  changing  rap- 
idly, as  in  the  case  of  the  sciences,  or  else  were  "  half-and- 
half  "  forms  of  education,  difficult  to  arrange  in  a  system 
that  promised  stability,  as  in  the  case  of  studies  leading  to 
the  bachelor  of  letters  or  bachelor  of  philosophy.  A  graver 
source  of  trouble,  in  view  of  the  too  fierce  practicality  of 
American  life,  was  the  admission  of  various  engineering  and 
other  technical  studies  as  parallel  undergraduate  courses, 
thus  tending  to  confuse  in  the  minds  of  young  students  the 
radical  distinction  between  liberal  and  utilitarian  ideals  in 
education,  and  tending  furthermore,  by  reason  of  the  attrac- 
tiveness of  the  "  bread-and-butter  "  courses,  to  diminish  the 
strength  of  the  liberal  studies.  When  in  addition  it  is 
remembered  that  the  newer  courses,  whether  liberal,  semi- 
liberal  or  technical,  which  found  a  footing  of  presumed 
equality  alongside  of  the  old  bachelor  of  arts  course,  exacted 
less  from  preparatory  schools  in  actual  quantity  of  school 
work  necessary  for  entrance  into  college,  it  will  be  seen  that 
the  level  of  preparation  for  college  was  really  lowered. 

The  present  drift  of  opinion  and  action  in  colleges  which 
offer  more  than  one  bachelor's  degree  is  more  reassuring 
than  it  was  some  twenty  years  ago.  There  is  a  noticeable 
tendency,  growing  stronger  each  year,  to  draw  a  sharp  line 
between  liberal  and  technical  education  and  to  retain  under- 
graduate college  education  in  liberal  studies  as  the  best 
foundation  for  technical  studies,  thus  elevating  the  latter  to 
a  professsional  dignity  comparable  with  law,  medicine  and 
divinity.  The  more  this  conception  prevails,  the  more  will 
college  courses  in  engineering  be  converted  into  graduate, 
or  at  least  partially  graduate  courses.  No  doubt  most  inde- 
pendent schools  will  continue  to  offer  their  courses  to  young 
students  of  college  age,  but  where  such  schools  have  been 
associated  as  parts  of  colleges  or  universities  the  tendency 


lO 


THE  AMERICAN  COLLEGE  [2  1 6 


to  a  clearer  separation  of  technical  from  liberal  studies  in 
the  manner  indicated  above  seems  likely  to  prevail.  If  this 
happy  result  can  be  considered  assured,  then  the  under- 
graduate college  course,  the  sole  guarantee  of  American 
liberal  culture,  will  have  a  good  chance  to  organize  itself  in 
accordance  with  its  own  high  ideals,  however  imperfectly  it 
may  have  realized  these  ideals  in  the  past. 

Another  hopeful  tendency  which  is  gradually  gathering 
strength  is  to  give  the  various  bachelor's  degrees  more  defi- 
nite significance  by  making  them  stand  for  distinct  types  of 
liberal  or  semi-liberal  education.  Three  such  types  or  forms 
are  now  slowly  evolving  out  of  the  mass  of  studies  with 
increasing  logical  consistency.  First  comes  the  historical 
academic  course,  attempting  to  realize  the  idea  of  a  general 
liberal  education,  and  consisting  of  the  classical  and  modern 
literatures,  mathematics  and  science,  with  historical,  polit- 
ical and  philosophical  studies  added,  and  leading  to  the 
bachelor  of  arts  degree.  The  second  is  the  course  which 
aims  to  represent  a  strictly  modern  culture  predominantly 
scientific  in  character,  and  culminating  in  the  degree  of 
bachelor  of  science.  As  this  course  originated  in  the 
demand  for  knowledge  of  the  applied  sciences  in  the  arts  and 
industries  of  modern  life,  the  ideal  of  a  purely  modern  lib- 
eral culture,  predominantly  scientific  in  spirit,  was  not  easy 
to  maintain.  On  the  contrary,  the  technical  aspects  of  the 
sciences  taught  tended  more  and  more  to  create  a  demand 
for  strictly  technological  instruction  to  the  exclusion  of  the 
theoretical  and  non-technical  aspects.  It  is  this  cause  more 
than  any  other  which  has  tended  to  restrict  the  energies  of 
schools  of  science  to  the  production  of  experts  in  the  various 
mechanical  and  chemical  arts  and  industries  and  has  caused 
them  to  do  so  little  for  the  advancement  of  pure  science. 
Conscious  of  this  difficulty,  many  schools  of  science  have 
been  giving  larger  place  in  the  curriculum  to  some  of  the 
more  available  humanistic  studies.  Fuller  courses  in  French 
and  German  have  been  provided  for  and  the  study  of  Eng- 
lish has  been  insisted  upon  with  sharper  emphasis.     Eco- 


2  I  7]  THE  AMERICAN  COLLEGE  1 1 

nomics,  modern  history  and  even  the  elements  of  philosophy 
have  found  place.  Some  improvement  has  also  been  effected 
by  increasing  the  entrance  requirements  in  quantity  of  school 
work.  But  in  spite  of  all  these  efforts  the  course  still  suffers 
from  an  inner  antagonism  between  technical  and  liberal 
impulses,  and  until  the  bachelor  of  science  course  finally  set- 
tles into  a  strictly  technical  form,  or  else  comes  to  represent 
a  strictly  modern  liberal  culture,  its  stability  cannot  be 
regarded  as  assured.  In  the  independent  scientific  schools, 
unassociated  with  colleges,  it  seems  probable  the  course  will 
keep  or  assume  a  highly  technical  form,  but  wherever  it  exists 
side  by  side  with  other  bachelor's  courses  as  a  proposed  rep- 
resentative of  some  form  of  liberal  education,  it  does  seem 
inevitable  that  the  bachelor  of  science  course  will  tend  to 
conform  to  the  ideal  of  a  modern  culture  mainly  scientific 
in  character.  But  even  if  this  result  be  achieved,  the  pro- 
cess of  achievement  promises  to  be  slow  and  difficult.  Few 
American  colleges  are  strong  enough  financially  to  make  the 
experiment,  which  it  must  be  admitted  involves  considerable 
financial  risk,  and  even  where  the  risk  may  be  safely  assumed 
there  still  remains  a  serious  theoretical  difficulty  in  realizing 
this  form  of  liberal  education.  The  antagonism  between 
the  technical  and  liberal  impulses  in  the  course  seems  very 
difficult  to  eliminate  completely.  For  if  the  question  be 
asked.  Why  should  an  American  college  student  seek  as  his 
liberal  education  the  studies  which  represent  a  purely  mod- 
ern culture  rather  than  pursue  the  bachelor  of  arts  course, 
which  professes  to  stand  for  a  more  general  culture?  the 
preference  of  most  students  will  be  found  to  rest  upon  their 
instinct  for  something  useful  and  immediately  available, 
rather  than  on  a  desire  for  things  intellectual.  This  con- 
stantly militates  against  devotion  to  the  intellectual  value 
of  their  modern  studies  and  tends  more  and  more  to  drag 
them  toward  technical  standards. 

The  third  aspirant  to  be  considered  a  type  of  liberal  col- 
lege education  is  the  course  intermediate  in  character 
between  the  two  already  discussed.     It  is  labeled  with  the 


12  THE  AMERICAN  COLLEGE  [2 1 8 

degree  of  bachelor  of  letters  or  bachelor  of  philosophy.  It 
differs  from  the  other  two  courses  mainly  in  its  treatment  of 
the  classical  languages.  In  its  desire  to  placate  the  practical 
spirit  it  drops  Greek,  but  retains  Latin  both  as  an  aid  to 
general  culture  and  as  a  strong  practical  help  in  learning  the 
modern  languages.  Notwithstanding  its  indeterminate  and 
intermediate  character,  it  is  serving  a  valuable  end  by  pro- 
viding thousands  of  students,  who  do  not  care  for  the  clas- 
sical languages  in  their  entirety,  with  a  sufficiently  liberal 
form  of  education  to  be  of  great  service  to  them.  It  is  by 
no  means  technical  in  spirit.  Judged  from  the  standpoint 
of  the  historical  bachelor  of  arts  course,  it  is  a  less  gen- 
eral but  still  valuable  culture.  Judged  from  the  standpoint 
of  the  bachelor  of  science  course,  it  appears  to  escape  the 
unhappy  conflict  between  the  technical  and  liberal  impulses 
and  anchors  the  student  somewhat  more  firmly  to  funda- 
mental conceptions  of  general  culture. 

These  three  are  the  principal  forms  of  undergraduate  col- 
lege education  which  in  any  degree  profess  to  stand  as  types 
of  liberal  culture  in  this  country  at  the  present  time,  and 
they  are  usually  labeled  with  three  different  degrees,  as 
already  indicated. 

But  some  colleges,  following  the  example  of  Harvard, 
have  dealt  with  the  bachelor's  degree  very  differently.  The 
degree  has  been  retained  as  the  sole  symbol  of  liberal  col- 
lege education,  but  the  meaning  of  the  degree  has  been 
radically  altered  in  order  to  make  it  sufficiently  elastic  to 
represent  the  free  selections  and  combinations  made  by 
the  students  themselves  out  of  the  whole  range  of  liberal 
studies.  In  these  colleges  it  therefore  no  longer  stands 
for  the  completion  of  a  definite  curriculum  composed  of  a 
few  clearly-related  central  studies  constituting  a  positive 
type.  What  it  does  stand  for  is  not  quite  so  easy  to 
define,  because  of  the  variation  of  practice  in  different  col- 
leges and  the  wide  diversity  in  the  choice  of  studies  exer- 
cised by  individual  students  in  any  one  college.  But,  gen- 
erally speaking,  it  means  that  the  student  is  free  to  choose 


2*9]  THE  AMERICAN  COLLEGE  1 3 

his  own  studies.  In  the  undergraduate  college  connected 
with  the  Johns  Hopkins  university  at  Baltimore  choice  is 
regulated  by  prescribing  moderately  elastic  groups  of  cog- 
nate studies,  the  student  being  required  to  say  which  group 
he  will  choose.  In  Harvard  college  the  range  of  choice  is 
restricted  in  no  such  way.  The  student  is  allowed  to  choose 
what  he  prefers,  subject  to  such  limitations  as  the  priority 
of  elementary  to  advanced  courses  in  any  subject,  and  the 
necessary  exclusions  compelled  by  the  physical  necessity  of 
placing  many  exercises  at  the  same  time,  in  order  to  accom- 
modate the  hundreds  of  courses  offered  within  the  limits  of 
the  weekly  schedule.  In  Columbia  college  the  degree  is 
still  different  in  respect  to  the  mode  of  the  student's  freedom 
of  choice,  and  especially  in  the  admission  of  professional 
studies  in  the  last  year  of  the  course.  A  Columbia  student 
in  his  senior  year  may  be  pursuing  his  first  year's  course  in 
law  or  medicine,  and  at  the  same  time  receiving  double 
credit  for  this  work,  both  toward  the  degree  of  bachelor  of 
arts  and  toward  the  professional  degree  of  doctor  of  medi- 
cine or  bachelor  of  laws.  These  examples  are  sufficient  to 
indicate  the  variety  of  meaning  found  in  colleges  which 
have  changed  the  historical  significance  of  the  bachelor  of 
arts  degree. 

V  OTHER  PHASES  OF  CHANGE 

Up  to  this  point  we  have  looked  at  the  American  college 
mainly  from  the  outside.  We  observed  in  the  college  of  a 
generation  ago  an  institution  of  liberal  education  providing 
a  single  four-year  course,  consisting  entirely  of  prescribed 
studies  for  young  men  from  sixteen  to  twenty  years  of  age, 
and  culminating  in  one  bachelor's  degree  of  fairly  uniform 
intentional  meaning.  We  observe  in  the  college  of  to-day 
the  developed  successor  of  the  earlier  college,  providing  a 
four-year  course  consisting  generally  of  a  mixture  of  pre- 
scribed and  elective  studies  in  widely  varying  proportions. 
The  average  age  of  the  students  has  increased  at  least  two 
years,  and  at  the  end  of  the  course  there  is  a  multiform 
instead  of  a  uniform  bachelor's  degree,  or  in  some  instances 


14  THE    AMERICAN    COLLEGE  [220 

a  single  bachelor's  degree  of  multiform  meaning.  To  some 
extent  the  undergraduate  collegian  has  become  a  university- 
student.  To  what  extent  ?  is  the  real  question  around  which 
a  controversy  of  vital  importance  is  raging. 

The  profound  change  indicated  by  these  external  symp- 
toms, a  change  so  full  of  peril  in  the  directions  of  disintegra- 
tion and  confusion,  and  yet  so  full  of  promise  if  rationally 
organized,  has  been  in  progress  since  the  civil  war,  and  is 
still  steadily  and  somewhat  blindly  working  along  towards 
its  consummation.  An  exact  estimate  of  such  a  state  of 
affairs,  a  diagnosis  which  shall  at  the  same  time  have  the 
value  of  a  prognosis  for  all  colleges,  is  manifestly  impossible 
at  the  present  time.  The  difficult  thing  in  any  such  attempt 
is  not  merely  to  understand  the  change  from  a  uniform  to  a 
multiform  mode  of  life  and  organization,  but  to  understand 
what  it  really  is  that  is  changing.  This  something  that  is 
changing  is  the  old-fashioned  American  college.  It  seems 
simple  enough  to  understand  what  this  was,  but  at  the  same 
time  it  needs  to  be  remembered  that  the  old-fashioned  col- 
leges, while  aiming  to  follow  out  a  single  course  of  study 
ending  in  a  single  degree  of  single  meaning,  nevertheless 
did  not  succeed  in  exhibiting  such  close  individual  resem- 
blance to  each  other  as  is  to  be  found,  let  us  say,  among  the 
lycees  of  France,  the  public  schools  of  England  or  the  gym- 
nasia of  Germany.  Many  so-called  colleges  really  served  as 
preparatory  schools  for  larger  and  stronger  colleges,  and 
many  so-called  universities  did  not  attain  and  in  fact  do  not 
yet  attain  to  the  real,  though  less  pretentious  dignity  of  the 
better  colleges.  In  fact  "university,"  as  President  Gilman 
observes,  is  only  too  often  a  "  majestic  synonym  "  for  "  cbJ- 
lege."  To  aid  in  giving  as  much  simplicity  and  consequent^ 
clearness  to  our  view  as  is  necessary  to  disclose  the  leading 
features  of  the  situation,  neglecting  all  the  others,  we  may 
therefore  at  once  discard  from  our  consideration  all  except 
the  better  colleges  which,  when  taken  together,  exhibit  the 
dominant  tendency. 

How,  then,  have  these  better  colleges  changed  ?     Speak- 


22  l]  THE  AMERICAN  COLLEGE  1 5 

ing  generally,  they  have  changed  in  a  way  which  reflects  the 
diversified  progress  of  the  country,  and  yet  in  some  sense 
they  have  had  an  important  influence  in  leading  and  organ- 
izing the  national  progress  itself.  Then,  too,  the  change  is 
not  merely  a  change  of  form,  but  of  spirit.  In  the  older 
days  scarcely  any  college  had  as  many  as  four  or  five  hundred 
students,  and  the  range  of  studies,  even  if  important,  was 
limited.  The  faculty  of  the  college  exercised  a  strong 
paternal  anxiety  and  oversight  on  behalf  of  the  morals  and 
religion,  as  well  as  over  the  studies  of  the  students.  The 
authority  of  the  president  was  almost  patriarchal  in  charac- 
ter. Not  highly  developed  insight  into  the  problems  of  edu- 
cation, but  plain  common  sense  in  governing  students  was 
the  condition  of  a  successful  presidency.  The  life  of  the 
students  was  mildly  democratic,  being  tempered  by  the  gen- 
erally beneficent  absolutism  of  the  president  and  the  faculty, 
which  in  turn  was  itself  tempered  by  occasional  student 
outbreaks.  According  to  the  last  report  of  the  United 
States  commissioner  of  education  (1896-97)  there  are  now 
472  colleges,'  excluding  those  for  women  only.  Seventy- 
seven  of  these  enroll  more  than  200  undergraduate  stu- 
dents, and  of  these  seventy-seven  colleges  twenty-four 
enroll  over  500,  and  eight  over  1,000.  The  range  of 
studies,  as  already  mentioned,  has  increased.  With  the 
strengthening  of  preparatory  courses,  the  school  preparation 
of  students  has  improved,  and  at  the  same  time  their  average 
age  at  entrance  has  risen.  The  number  of  professors  has 
multiplied.  The  old-fashioned  college  professor,  the  man  of 
moderate  general  scholarship  and  of  austere  yet  kindly 
interest  in  the  personal  welfare  of  those  he  taught,  still 
remains ;  but  at  his  side  has  appeared  more  and  more  fre- 
quently the  newer  type  of  American  college  professor,  the 
man  of  high  special  learning  in  some  one  subject  or  branch 
of  that  subject,  who  considers  it  his  primary  duty  to  investi- 
gate, his  next  duty  to  teach,  and  his  least  duty  to  exercise  a 

'That  is,  472  "  colleges  and  universities."     As  almost  every  university,  real  or 
nominal,  contains  a  college,  the  total  of  472  colleges  is  approximately  correct. 


1 6  THE  AMERICAN  COLLEGE  [222 

personal  care  for  the  individual  students.  Perhaps  the  old 
type  will  be  replaced  by  the  new.  Such  a  result,  however, 
would  not  be  an  unmixed  gain,  and  it  is  indeed  fortunate  that 
our  finest  college  professors  to-day  endeavor  to  combine 
high  special  attainments  as  scholars  with  deep  interest  in 
the  personal  well-being  of  their  students.  The  authority  of 
the  faculty  is  still  sufficient,  but  is  exercised  differently.  Stu- 
dent self-government  is  the  order  of  the  day,  and  the  more 
this  prevails  the  less  is  exercise  of  faculty  authority  found  to 
be  necessary.  With  student  self-government  there  has 
naturally  come  an  increase  of  intensity  in  the  democratic 
character  of  student  life.  The  presidents  of  our  larger  col- 
leges, and  even  of  many  of  the  smaller,  are  becoming  more 
and  more  administrative  officers  and  less  and  less  teachers. 
It  is  no  doubt  something  of  a  loss  that  the  students  should 
not  have  the  intimate  personal  acquaintance  with  the  presi- 
dent enjoyed  by  students  a  generation  ago,  but  this  can- 
not be  avoided  in  places  where  a  thousand  undergradu-. 
ates  are  enrolled.  Out-door  sports  have  also  entered  to 
modify  and  improve  the  spirit  of  our  academic  life.  They 
have  developed  their  own  evils,  but  at  the  same  time  have 
done  wonders  for  the  physical  health  of  the  students,  the 
diminution  of  student  disorders  and  the  fostering  of  an 
intense  esprit  de  corps.  In  the  reaction  from  the  asceticism 
of  our  early  college  life  there  is  little  doubt  our  athletics 
have  gone  too  far ;  so  far  as  to  divert  in  a  noticeable  degree 
the  student's  attention  from  his  studies.  But  it  is  gratifying 
to  notice  that  the  abuses  of  college  athletics  can  be  corrected, 
and  that  they  are  to  some  extent  self-correcting.  It  must 
not  be  forgotten  that  unlike  his  father  or  grandfather,  whose 
college  life  was  so  largely  spent  indoors,  the  American  stu- 
dent of  to-day  lives  outdoors  as  much  as  possible.  The 
moral  and  religious  spirit  of  the  college  of  to-day  is  inher- 
ited from  the  old  college. 

Nearly  all  our  colleges  are  avowedly  or  impliedly  Chris- 
tian. A  respectable  minority  of  them  are  Roman  Catholic. 
The  large  majority  are  under  Protestant  influences,  some- 


223]  THE  AMERICAN  COLLEGE  1 7 

times  denominational,  but  generally  of  an  unsectarian  char- 
acter even  in  the  church  colleges.  In  most  of  them  the  stu- 
dent is  expected  to  attend  certain  religious  exercises,  such 
as  morning  prayers ;  in  many,  however,  all  such  attendance 
is  voluntary.  The  voluntary  religious  life  of  the  under- 
graduates finds  its  expression  in  various  societies,  which 
endeavor  to  promote  the  Christian  fellowship  and  life  of 
their  members.  While  moral  and  religious  convictions  are 
freer  and  sometimes  laxer  than  of  old  the  Christian  life  in 
our  colleges  is  real  and  pervasive. 

As  a  rule  the  student  is  so  absorbed  by  the  scholastic, 
athletic  and  miscellaneous  activities  of  his  college  that  he 
sees  little  outside  social  life.  This  is  particularly  true  in 
colleges  which  enjoy  truly  academic  seclusion  amid  rural 
surroundings,  for  here  more  than  anywhere  else  is  to  be  seen 
the  natural  unperturbed  outworking  of  the  undergraduate 
spirit.  It  is  the  old  spirit  enlarged  and  liberalized,  —  the 
spirit  which  finds  its  delight  in  a  free,  democratic,  self-respect- 
ing enjoyment  of  the  four  years  which  are  so  often  looked 
back  upon  as  the  happiest  four  years  of  life. 

VI    INCREASED    FREEDOM    IN    STUDIES.       DEVELOPMENT    OF 
ELECTIVE    COURSES 

Such  are  some  of  the  non-scholastic  aspects  of  our  present 
college  life.  They  are  important  in  that  they  give  tone  to  the 
whole  picture,  but  they  do  not  account  for  what,  after  all,  is 
the  great  transformation  which  has  been  wrought,  for  that 
transformation  is  distinctly  scholastic.  It  is  caused  by  the 
increase  of  students,  their  better  preparation  and  their 
greater  age.  The  studies  which  by  common  consent  made 
up  the  curriculum  leading  to  the  old  bachelor  of  arts  degree 
are  now  being  completed  before  the  end,  sometimes  by  the 
middle  of  the  college  course.  There  is  to-day  no  reason  why 
a  young  man  of  twenty  should  not  know  as  much  as  his 
father  knew  at  twenty.  But  at  twenty  his  father  had  gradu- 
ated with  the  bachelor  of  arts  degree,  whereas  at  twenty  the 
son  is  only  half  way  through  his  college  course.     In  other 


1 8  THE  AMERICAN  COLLEGE  [224 

words,  he  has  passed  the  time  of  prescription  and  entered 
upon  the  time  of  his  freedom.  As  this  fact  forced  itself 
more  and  more  upon  the  older  and  stronger  colleges,  experi- 
ments were  made  in  granting  a  limited  amount  of  elective 
freedom  to  students  in  the  latter  part  of  their  course  ;  first 
in  the  senior  year  and  then  in  the  junior  year,  until  in  some 
instances  the  whole  four-year  course  is  now  elective.  The 
solid  block  of  four  years'  prescribed  study  has  been  cleft 
downward,  part  of  the  way  at  least,  by  the  "  elective " 
wedge,  thin  at  its  entering  edge,  but  widening  above  the 
more  it  enters  and  descends.  To-day  the  problem  of  the 
relation  of  prescribed  to  elective  studies  is  a  question  of  con- 
stant interest  and  perpetual  readjustment.  On  the  whole, 
the  area  of  elective  opportunity  is  extending  downward,  but 
whether  this  downward  extension  is  being  accomplished  by 
injuring  the  foundations  of  liberal  education,  is  to-day  as 
grave  a  question  as  any  we  have  to  meet.  In  some  colleges 
a  student  may  obtain  the  bachelor  of  arts  degree  without 
studying  any  science,  or  he  may  omit  his  classics,  or  he  may 
know  nothing  of  philosophy.  The  solutions  offered  for  this 
perplexing  problem  are  many. 

The  first  proposal,  which  has  now  scarcely  an  advocate, 
except  possibly  some  laudatores  temporis  actz,  is  plainly  an 
impossible  one.  It  is  to  insist  on  the  old-fashioned  four-year 
prescribed  course.  But  the  old-fashioned  course  is  gone. 
It  cannot  be  restored,  because  it  no  longer  suits  our  age. 
Young  men  will  not  go  to  college  and  remain  there  until  the 
age  of  twenty-two  years  without  some  opportunity  to  exercise 
freedom  of  choice  in  their  studies. 

The  second  proposal  is  to  constitute  the  undergraduate 
course  entirely,  or  almost  entirely,  of  elective  studies.  It 
is  argued  that  when  a  young  man  is  eighteen  or  nineteen 
years  of  age,  he  is  old  enough  to  choose  his  liberal  studies, 
and  that  his  own  choice  will  be  better  for  him  individually 
than  any  prescription  the  wisest  college  faculty  may  make. 
The  advocates  of  this  view  admit  its  dangers.  They  see 
the  perils  of  incoherency  and  discontinuity  in  the  choice  of 


225]  THE  AMERICAN  COLLEGE  1 9 

Studies.  They  see  that  many  students  are  influenced,  not 
by  the  intrinsic  value  of  the  studies,  but  by  their  liking  for 
this  or  that  instructor,  or  the  companionship  of  certain  stu- 
dents, or  for  the  easiness  of  those  crowded  courses  which  in 
college  slang  are  called  "  softs  "  or  "  snaps  "  or  *'  cinches."  Yet 
they  argue  that  the  college  student  must  be  free  at  some  time, 
that  his  sense  of  responsibility  will  be  developed  the  sooner 
he  is  compelled  to  choose  for  himself,  and  that  he  will  have 
the  stimulating  and  sobering  consciousness  that  what  he  does 
is  his  own  act  and  not  the  prescription  of  others  for  him. 
Those  who  oppose  this  view  argue  that  the  academic  free- 
dom here  proposed  belongs  to  university  rather  than  to  col- 
lege students  ;  that  the  American  freshman  is  not  a  university 
student  in  the  sense  in  which  that  term  has  been  commonly 
understood  in  the  educated  world.  He  has  not  spent  eight, 
nine  or  ten  years  in  secondary  studies,  as  is  the  case  in 
France,  England  or  Germany.  On  the  contrary,  he  has 
usually  spent  not  more  than  four  years  in  such  secondary 
studies  —  occasionally  a  year  or  so  more.  At  eighteen  or 
nineteen  years  of  age,  he,  therefore,  comes  to  college  with 
less  training  and  mental  maturity  than  the  French,  English 
or  German  youth  possesses  on  entering  his  university. 
If,  therefore,  he  is  to  be  as  well  educated  as  they  are, 
some  of  his  time  in  college,  the  first  two  years  at  least, 
should  be  spent  in  perfecting  his  properly  secondary  edu- 
cation before  entering  upon  that  elective  freedom  which,  as 
is  generally  conceded,  has  a  place  and  a  large  place  in  our 
present  undergraduate  courses.  The  arguing  on  this  ques- 
tion has  been  interminable,  and  almost  every  intellectual 
interest  of  our  colleges  is  bound  up  in  its  proper  solution. 

A  third  proposal  is  a  conservative  modification  of  the  one 
just  mentioned.  It  is  to  prescribe  groups  of  cognate  studies 
with  the  object  of  concentrating  attention  on  related  subjects 
in  that  field  which  the  student  may  prefer,  as,  for  example, 
physical  science  or  ancient  literature  or  philosophy.  Of 
course  the  advantage  claimed  for  this  mode  is  that  it  allows 
the  student  to  choose  the  field  of  study  he  likes,  and  then 


20 


THE  AMERICAN  COLLEGE  [226 


safeguards  him  against  incoherency  by  requiring  him  to  pur- 
sue a  group  of  well-related  courses  in  that  field.  Or  he  may 
elect  the  "old-fashioned  college  course,"  if  he  likes.  The 
advocates  of  wider  freedom  object  to  this  as  fettering  spon- 
taneity of  choice,  as  not  recognizing  the  fact  that  there  are 
many  students  for  whom  it  is  advantageous  to  choose  a  study 
here  and  there  at  will,  as  a  piece  of  side  work  outside  the 
chosen  field  of  their  activity.  The  objectors  to  this  plan  of 
restricted  groups  and  also  to  the  plan  of  practically  unre- 
stricted freedom,  assert  that  the  fundamental  difficulty  in 
basing  any  college  course  on  a  single  group  of  cognate 
studies  within  some  one  field  is  that  it  offers  temptations  to 
premature  specialization  at  the  expense  of  liberal  education. 
Still  another  proposal  remains  to  be  considered.  It  is  the 
proposal  of  those  who  believe  that  the  best  type  of  liberal 
education  is  to  be  found  in  the  historic  bachelor  of  arts 
course,  which  has  been  the  center  and  strength  of  Ameri- 
can college  life.  They  concede,  however,  that  the  other 
bachelor's  courses  which  have  been  established  will  give  a 
valuable  education  to  many,  provided  these  courses  are 
consistently  organized  according  to  their  own  ideals. 
They  hold  that  it  is  possible  to  ascertain  with  sufficient 
exactness  just  what  studies  ought  to  be  prescribed  as  integral 
parts  of  these  courses,  and  that  it  is  the  preliminary  training 
given  in  these  prescribed  studies  which  develops  maturity  in 
the  young  student  and  enables  him  to  choose  intelligently 
his  later  elective  studies.  At  the  present  time,  in  their  view, 
it  is  not  wise  to  introduce  elective  studies  until  about  the 
middle  of  the  college  course.  These  studies,  once  intro- 
duced, should  themselves  be  organized  and  related  in  a  sys- 
tem, and  connected  with  the  underlying  system  of  prescribed 
studies.  The  principle  of  freedom  should  be  introduced 
gradually,  not  suddenly.  A  form  of  this  view  which  finds  a 
good  deal  of  support  is  that  elective  studies  should  be 
introduced  first  of  all  in  the  form  of  extensions  of  subjects 
already  studied  by  the  student,  in  order  that  he  may  make 
his  first  experiment  of  choice  in  an  area  where  he  is  most 


22  7]  THE  AMERICAN  COLLEGE  21 

familiar.  According  to  this  view  the  second  stage  of  elec- 
tive studies  should  be  the  introduction  of  large  general 
courses  in  leading  subjects,  accompanied  or  flanked  by  special 
courses  for  students  of  exceptional  ability  in  special  direc- 
tions, and  finally  leading  to  as  high  a  degree  of  specializa- 
tion as  the  resources  of  the  college  will  allow. 

But  in  this  region  the  American  college  merges  itself  into 
the  university,  and  it  may  be  fairly  asserted  that  in  the  last 
year  and  in  some  colleges  in  the  last  two  years  the  student 
is  really  a  university  student.  In  these  various  ways  we  are 
to-day  experimenting  in  order  to  find  a  form  under  which  to 
organize  the  rapidly-increasing  mass  of  elective  studies. 

VII    MODES  OF  INSTRUCTION.       ACADEMIC  HONORS 

Instruction  is  still  mainly  conducted  by  recitation  and  lec- 
ture, the  recitation  finding  its  chief  place  in  the  earlier  and 
the  lecture  in  the  later  part  of  the  course.  For  purposes  of 
recitation  the  classes  are  divided  into  sections  of  twenty-five 
or  thirty  students,  and  the  exercise  is  usually  based  on  a 
definitely  allotted  portion  of  some  standard  text-book. 
Much  has  been  done  to  improve  the  character  of  this  exer- 
cise. The  attempt  is  made  to  make  it  something  more  vital 
than  the  mere  listening  to  students  as  they  recite  what  they 
have  learned.  The  correction  of  mistakes,  the  attempt  to 
lead  the  student  along  so  as  to  discover  for  himself  the 
cause  of  his  mistakes,  the  endeavor  to  teach  the  entire  class 
through  the  performance  of  each  individual,  to  carry  the 
whole  group  along  as  one  man  and  thus  conduct  them 
through  a  stimulating  and  pleasant  hour,  is  the  aim  of  the 
more  skilful  instructors.  Variety  and  consequent  freshen- 
ing of  attention  and  effort  are  added  by  setting  collateral 
topics  of  special  interest  to  this  or  that  student,  for  him  to 
look  up  somewhat  independently.  And  it  must  be  confessed 
that  the  professors  most  skilled  in  the  art  of  conducting 
recitations,  rather  than  those  who  depend  wholly  on  lectures, 
leave  the  most  abiding  impression.  The  old-fashioned  reci- 
tation too  often  put  the  student  into  a  laborious  treadmill, 


22  THE  AMERICAN  COLLEGE  [228 

and  monotony  was  the  result.  But  the  best  recitations  in 
our  colleges  to-day  are  fine  examples  of  dialectic  play 
between  instructor  and  student,  and  the  best  moments  of 
such  exercises  are  remembered  with  enthusiasm.  While 
instruction  by  recitation  continues  with  effectiveness  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  course,  especially  with  smaller  groups  of 
students,  yet  instruction  by  lecture  is  the  rule.  The  lec- 
turer may  have  to  face  a  class  which  enrolls  as  many  students 
as  the  whole  college  contained  a  generation  ago.  Two  or 
three  hundred  may  assemble  to  hear  him.  He  delivers  his 
lecture,  while  those  before  him  take  notes  or  sometimes,  as 
they  listen,  read  the  outline  of  his  discourse  in  a  printed 
syllabus  prepared  for  the  use  of  the  class,  and  add  such 
jottings  as  may  seem  desirable.  In  many  lecture  courses 
the  recitation  is  employed  as  an  effective  auxiliary. 

But  other  forms  of  instruction  find  place.  In  all  except 
the  elementary  courses  in  science  the  laboratory  plays  a  most 
important  part,  and  even  in  the  lectures  in  the  introductory 
courses  in  physics,  chemistry  or  biology  full  experimental 
illustration  is  the  rule.  Then,  too,  the  library  serves  as  a 
sort  of  laboratory  for  the  humanistic  studies.  Students  are 
encouraged  to  learn  the  use  of  the  college  library  as  auxiliary 
to  the  regular  exercises  of  the  curriculum.  Certain  books 
are  appointed  as  collateral  reading,  and  the  written  exami- 
nation at  the  end  of  the  term  often  takes  account  of  this 
outside  reading.  But  American  students  read  too  little. 
That  prolonged  reading,  which  gives  such  wide  and  assur- 
ing acquaintance  with  the  important  literature  of  any  sub- 
ject, is  as  yet  unattempted  in  a  really  adequate  degree. 

The  academic  year  is  divided  into  two,  and  sometimes 
into  three  terms.  At  the  end  of  each  term  the  student  is 
required  to  pass  a  fairly  rigorous  set  of  written  examina- 
tions. Oral  examinations  have  largely  disappeared.  Some- 
times a  high  record  of  attainment  in  recitations  during  the 
term  entitles  a  student  to  exemption  from  examination,  but 
this  is  not  common.  In  awarding  honors  for  scholarly  pro- 
ficiency  the  old   academic   college  confined    itself   almost 


229]  THE  AMERICAN  COLLEGE  2$ 

entirely  to  general  honors  for  eminence  in  the  whole  round 
of  studies.  The  "  first  honor-man "  in  older  days  was  the 
hero  and  pride  of  his  class.  At  graduation  he  usually  deliv- 
ered the  valedictory  or  else  the  Latin  salutatory.  Honors 
for  general  eminence  still  remain  in  most  colleges.  The 
rank  list  of  the  class  at  graduation  either  arranges  the  stu- 
dents in  ordinal  position  (in  which  case  the  first  honor-man 
still  appears)  or  else  divides  the  class  into  a  series  of  groups 
arranged  in  order  of  general  scholarly  merit.  In  such  cases 
the  old  first  honor-man  is  one  of  the  select  few  who  consti- 
tute the  highest  group  in  the  class.  But  special  honors  in 
particular  studies,  while  not  unknown  in  the  past,  are  really 
a  development  of  our  time.  Undoubtedly  they  have  tended 
to  increase  the  interest  of  abler  students  in  their  favorite 
studies.  A  student  trying  for  special  honors  is,  of  course, 
specializing  in  some  sense,  though  he  is  not  ordinarily  pur- 
suing original  research.  He  is  rather  enlarging  and  deepen- 
ing his  acquaintance  with  some  one  important  subject,  such 
as  history  or  mathematics.  But  sometimes  he  is  beginning 
independent  investigation,  and  thus  passes  beyond  the  col- 
legiate sphere  of  study. 

VIII   STUDENT  LIFE 

Let  us  try  to  picture  the  career  of  a  young  American  of 
the  usual  type  at  one  of  our  older  eastern  colleges  to-day. 
At  eighteen  years  of  age  he  has  completed  a  four-year  course 
in  some  secondary  school,  let  us  say  at  a  private  academy  in 
the  middle  states,  or  some  flourishing  western  high  school. 
He  does  not  need  to  make  the  long  journey  to  his  future 
college  in  order  to  be  examined  for  entrance,  but  finds  in 
the  distant  town  where  he  lives,  or  at  least  in  some  neigbor- 
ing  city,  a  local  entrance  examination  conducted  by  a  repre- 
sentative of  his  intended  college.  The  days  and  exact  hours 
of  examination  and  the  examination  papers  are  the  same  as 
for  the  examination  held  at  the  college.  His  answers  are 
sent  on  to  be  marked  and  estimated.  In  a  week  or  two  he 
receives  notice  of  his  admission  to  the  freshman  class. 


24 


THE  AMERICAN  COLLEGE  [23O 


When  the  long  summer  vacation  is  over  he  sets  out  for  his 
college.  Having  passed  his  entrance  examinations,  he  is  now 
entitled  to  secure  rooms  in  one  of  the  dormitories,  or  else  to 
find  quarters  outside  the  college  campus  in  town.  His  name 
is  duly  enrolled  in  the  matriculation  book  and  his  student 
career  begins.  He  usually  comes  with  an  earnest  purpose 
to  study,  or  at  least  to  be  regular  in  all  his  attendance. 
His  newness  and  strangeness  naturally  pick  him  out  for  a 
good  deal  of  notice  on  the  part  of  the  older  students,  especi- 
ally those  of  the  sophomore  class.  He  is  subjected  to  some 
good-natured  chaffing  and  guying,  and  perhaps  to  little 
indignities.  If  he  takes  it  good-naturedly,  the  annoyance 
soon  ceases.  If,  however,  he  shows  himself  bumptious  or 
opinionated  or  vain  or  "  very  fresh,"  his  troubles  are  apt  to 
continue.  Unfortunately  it  is  not  impossible  they  will  cul- 
minate in  some  act  of  mean  bullying,  known  in  college  par- 
lance as  "  hazing."  The  entering  freshman  is  too  often  like 
the  newly-arrived  slave  mentioned  in  Tacitus, —  conservis 
ludibrio  est ;  and  it  would  be  little  comfort  for  him  to  know 
that  in  this  respect  he  is  also  a  lineal  successor  of  the 
be j annus,  the  freshman  "  fledgeling  "  among  the  students  of 
medieval  Paris.  But  the  daily  round  of  college  exercises 
demands  his  attention,  and  in  the  class  room  he  begins  to 
pass  through  a  process  of  attrition  more  beneficent  in  its 
spirit.  Under  the  steady  measuring  gaze  of  the  instructor, 
and  the  unuttered  but  very  real  judgment  of  his  classmates 
who  sit  about  him,  he  begins  to  measure  himself  and  to  be 
measured  by  college  standards.  Probably  for  the  first  time 
in  his  life  he  is  compelled  to  recognize  that  he  must  stand 
solely  on  his  merits.  The  helps  and  consolations  of  home 
and  of  the  limited  circle  in  which  his  boyhood  was  fostered 
and  sheltered  are  far  away.  He  is  learning  something  not 
down  in  the  books !  and  what  he  is  thus  discovering  is  well 
pictured  in  the  words  of  Professor  Hibben  :  "There  is  a 
fair  field  to  all  and  no  favor.  Wealth  does  not  make  for  a 
man  nor  the  lack  of  it  against  him.  The  students  live  their 
lives  upon  one  social  level.     There  is  a  deep-seated  intoler- 


231]  THE  AMERICAN  COLLEGE  25 

ance  of  all  snobbishness  and  pretension.  The  dictum  of 
the  'varsity  field,  'No  grand-stand  playing!'  obtains  in  all 
quarters  of  the  undergraduate  life.  It  signifies  no  cant  in 
religion ;  no  pedantry  in  scholarship ;  no  affectation  in 
manners ;  no  pretence  in  friendship.  This  is  the  first  and 
enduring  lesson  which  the  freshman  must  learn.  He  learns 
and  he  forgets  many  other  lessons,  but  this  must  be  held  in 
lively  remembrance  until  it  has  become  a  second  nature." 
But  he  has  many  encouragements.  He  is  passing  out  of 
callow  youth  toward  manhood,  and  his  classmates  are  in  the 
same  situation  with  him.  Here  is  the  impulse  which  sud- 
denly sweeps  the  whole  entering  class  together  in  intimate 
comradeship.  And  so  he  starts  out  with  his  companions  on 
the  ups  and  downs  of  his  four-year  journey.  No  wonder  so 
many  college  graduates  say  freshman  year  was  the  most 
valuable  of  all;  —  it  was  surely  the  hardest.  His  college 
comradeship  continues  and  constitutes  his  social  world. 
Day  after  day,  term  after  term,  they  are  thrown  together  in 
all  the  relationships  of  student  life.  In  the  classroom,  at  the 
"  eating  clubs,"  at  the  athletic  games,  in  the  musical,  literary 
and  religious  societies,  in  scenes  of  exuberant  jollification 
and  careless  disorder,  and  in  endless  criticism  of  the  faculty 
or  of  the  various  courses  of  study,  how  their  frank  and 
unconventional  ways  constantly  surprise  and  bewilder  the 
common-place  American  philistine !  You  may  pass  across 
the  lawns  of  many  a  campus  at  any  hour  of  the  day  and 
almost  any  hour  of  the  night  in  term-time,  and  rarely  is 
there  a  time  when  some  student  life  is  not  astir.  Some  are 
thronging  toward  the  lecture  hall  to  the  punctual  ringing  of 
the  college  bell,  meeting  returning  throngs  whose  exercises 
are  just  finished.  They  are  walking  by  twos  or  threes, 
smoking  or  chatting  or  mildly  "  playing  horse  "  in  some  very 
pleasant  way,  unmindful  and  probably  unaware  of  Lord 
Chesterfield's  horrified  injunction  to  his  son  :  "  No  horse- 
play, I  beseech  of  you."  Or  they  are  thronging  to  fill  the 
"  bleachers  "  at  a  baseball  or  football  game  that  is  about  to 
be  played  on  the  college  grounds.     The  different  varieties 


26  THE  AMERICAN  COLLEGE  [232 

of  the  college  cheer  startle  the  air,  and  afford  some  color  of 
excuse  to  the  ingenious  hypothesis  that  our  student  cheers 
are  derived  from  Indian  war  whoops.  Or  else  when  they 
are  assembled  in  Sunday  chapel,  a  decorous  but  not  always 
solemn  audience,  their  capacity  for  "  simultaneous  emotion  " 
appears  in  their  spirited  singing  of  a  favorite  hymn,  or  per- 
haps shows  itself  in  the  sudden  sensation  that  sweeps  across 
the  chapel  like  a  lightly  rustling  breeze  in  response  to  an 
inopportune  remark  of  some  inexperienced  visiting  clergy- 
man. Or  in  the  moonlit  evenings  of  October,  the  time  when 
the  trees  are  turning  red  and  yellow,  their  long  processions 
pass  to  and  fro,  singing  college  songs.  Truly  the  American 
collegian  is  brimful  of  the  "gregarious  instinct." 

In  addition  to  this  ever-present  gregarious  comradeship 
which  environs  and  inspires  him,  our  entering  freshman 
finds  the  deeper  intimacies  of  close  individual  friendship. 
As  a  matter  of  course  he  has  some  one  most  intimate  friend, 
generally  his  room-mate  or  "chum."  Side  by  side  they 
mingle  with  their  fellows.  They  stand  together  and,  it  may 
be,  they  fall  together,  and  then  rise  together.  And  thus  the 
class  is  paired  off,  and  yet  not  to  the  lessening  of  the  deep 
class  fellowship.  Here  indeed  is  a  form  of  communism, 
temporary  and  local,  but  most  intense.  They  freely  use  things 
in  common,  not  excepting  the  property  of  the  college. 
The  distinction  between  meum  and  tuum  does  not  hold 
rigorously.  To.  rmv  <piX(tiv  xotvd  said  the  ancient  poet,  and  so  say 
they.  Accordingly  a  desirable  hat  or  scarf  or  some  article 
of  athletic  costume  changes  ownership  again  and  again,  with 
nothing  sought  in  return.  They  are  welcome  to  enter  each 
others'  rooms  at  pleasure  and  use  their  friends'  tobacco  and 
stationery,  or  to  borrow  such  articles  of  furniture  and  bric-a- 
brac  as  will  brighten  their  own  rooms  for  some  special 
occasion.  The  doors  of  their  apartments  are  commonly  left 
open ;  sometimes  a  latch-string  is  ingeniously  arranged  so 
the  door  can  be  opened  from  the  outside.  Money,  however, 
stands  on  a  different  basis  from  other  valuables,  It  is  freely 
loaned  for   an    indefinite  time,   but   is  strictly   repaid.     A 


233]  THE  AMERICAN  COLLEGE  2/ 

Student  who  lends  his  fellow  money  at  interest  cannot  live 
in  a  college  community. 

Our  student,  unless  he  is  an  unusual  recluse,  takes  some 
part  in  athletics.  If  he  is  not  able  to  win  a  place  on  the 
football  team  or  baseball  nine  or  crew",  which  represents  his 
alma  mater  in  intercollegiate  contests,  he  is  very  likely  to  be 
found  playing  ball  in  some  organization  improvised  for  the 
day,  or  trying  his  hand  at  tennis  or  golf.  The  bicycle  is  a 
necessity  of  his  life,  and  on  it  he  rides  to  recitations  and 
lectures,  to  his  meals  and  to  the  athletic  field. 

He  has  still  other  interests  outside  the  curriculum.  He 
may  be  a  member  of  the  voluntary  religious  society  of  the 
students.  Perhaps  he  gets  a  place  on  the  glee  club  or 
dramatic  club.  He  may  become  one  of  the  editors  of  the 
daily  college  paper  or  of  the  monthly  literary  magazine. 
Perhaps  he  is  manager  or  assistant  business  manager  for 
one  or  another  undergraduate  organization.  Then  there 
are  the  whist  clubs  and  time-consuming  chess  clubs.  There 
are  also  circles  for  outside  reading  and  discussion  springing 
up  around  the  course  of  study,  as  well  as  the  societies  which 
train  in  speaking  and  debating.  Perhaps  he  may  win  the 
distinction  of  representing  his  college  in  an  intercollegiate 
debate,  and  success  in  intercollegiate  debating  is  highly 
coveted.  The  contestants  are  greatly  honored,  for  debat- 
ing and  athletics  form  the  principal  bond  of  union  between 
the  different  colleges  and  give  to  their  participants  intercol- 
legiate distinction. 

Until  the  student  passes  out  of  freshman  year,  he  is  not 
always  free  to  choose  what  kind  of  clothes  he  will  wear. 
A  freshman  wearing  a  tall  hat  and  carrying  a  walking-stick 
is  an  offense  to  the  other  classes.  In  some  colleges  fresh- 
men are  not  allowed  to  wear  the  colors,  except  on  rare  occa- 
sions. But  as  soon  as  he  becomes  a  sophomore  he  is  free  to 
do  as  he  likes.  Then  he  and  his  classmates  may  suddenly 
appear  wearing  various  hats,  picturesque  and  often  grotesque 
in  appearance,  and  revel  particularly  in  golfing  suits.  Toward 
the  cjose  of  the  course  their  daily  dress  becomes  more  con- 


28  THE  AMERICAN  COLLEGE  [234 

ventional,  though  the  universal  interest  in  athletics  continues 
to  affect  the  student  mode  all  the  way  to  the  end.  He  has 
other  amusements  besides  athletics,  and  these  again  are 
found  in  the  student  circle.  His  briarwood  pipe  goes  with 
him  almost  everywhere.  He  smokes  as  he  studies ;  he 
smokes  at  the  games.  Seated  side  by  side  with  thousands 
of  other  students  and  alumni  at  the  great  intercollegiate 
matches,  he  helps  form  the  fragrant  cloud  of  blue  incense 
that  rises  from  the  "bleachers  "  and  drifts  over  the  field.  In 
the  evening,  when  the  work  of  the  scholastic  day  is  done,  he 
sits  with  his  comrades  at  an  unconventional  "  smoker,"  or  else 
they  may  gather  round  the  table  of  some  restaurant  with 
pipe  and  "  stein  ; "  for  the  American  student  who  drinks  at 
all  prefers  beer  to  either  wine  or  whisky.  At  such  evening 
sessions  the  different  phases  of  student  politics  are  discussed 
again  and  again.  College  songs  are  sung,  the  air  being 
carried  in  that  sonorous  baritone  which  is  the  dominant  sound 
in  all  our  student  music.  Tales  and  jests  fill  out  the  hour. 
At  the  end  the  college  cheer  is  given  as  the  men  start  stroll- 
ing homeward,  singing  as  they  go.  Arrived  on  the  campus 
they  disperse,  and  their  good-night  calls  echo  from  the  doors 
and  windows  of  the  different  dormitories.  And  so  the  day 
ends  where  it  began ;  within  that  closed  circle  where  every 
student  lives  in  "  shouting  distance  "  of  the  others. 

Our  former  freshman  is  getting  on  bravely  toward  the  end 
of  his  course.  He  is  now  a  free,  familiar,  established  deni- 
zen of  his  college.  He  "  owns  "  it  New  freshmen,  unpleas- 
antly raw  and  needing  to  be  taught  their  place, —  new  fresh- 
men so  different  from  what  he  is  and  yet  so  like  what  he  once 
was,  are  crowding  in  at  the  bottom  of  the  course.  They 
look  up  to  him  and  his  compeers  in  the  senior  class  with  no 
little  awe  and  hope.  What  he  is,  they  may  become.  In 
him  they  "see  their  finish."  In  them  he  reluctantly  recalls 
his  beginnings.  The  closing  months  of  senior  year  pass 
swiftly.  His  class  procession  is  preparing  to  march  out  into 
the  world,  and  there  take  its  place  as  a  higher  order  of  fresh- 
men in  the  long  file  of  the  classes  of  alumni  advancing  with 


235]  THE  AMERICAN  COLLEGE  29 

their  thinning  ranks  toward  middle  manhood  and  beyond, — 
and  when  commencement  is  over  his  undergraduate  life  is 
ended. 

What  has  he  acquired  in  the  four  years  ?  At  least  some 
insight  into  the  terms  and  commonplaces  of  liberal  learning 
and  some  discipline  in  the  central  categories  of  knowledge, 
some  moral  training  acquired  in  the  punctual  performance 
of  perhaps  unwelcome  daily  duty  and  some  reverence  for 
things  intellectual  and  spiritual.  He  is  not  only  a  very 
different  man  from  what  he  was  when  he  entered,  but  very 
different  from  what  he  could  have  become  had  he  not 
entered.  He  is  wiser  socially.  He  is  becoming  cosmopol- 
itan. Awkwardness,  personal  eccentricity,  conceit,  diffidence, 
and  all  that  is  callow  or  forward  or  perverse  have  been  taken 
from  him,  so  far  as  the  ceaseless  attrition  of  his  fellow- 
students  and  professors  has  touched  him.  He  has  been 
unconsciously  developed  into  the  genuine  collegian.  He  is 
still  frank  and  unconventional.  But  he  has  become  more 
tolerant,  better  balanced,  more  cultivated  and  more  open- 
minded,  and  thus  better  able  to  direct  himself  and  others. 
This  is  the  priceless  service  his  college  has  rendered  him.  It 
is  little  wonder  his  student  affiliations  last.  As  he  goes  out 
to  take  his  place  among  the  thousands  of  his  fellow  alumni 
it  is  natural  that  his  and  their  filial  devotion  to  their 
academic  mother  should  last  through  life.  He  will  return 
with  his  class  at  their  annual  or  triennial  or  decennial  or 
later  pilgrimages  to  the  old  place.  No  matter  what  univer- 
sity he  may  subsequently  attend,  here  or  abroad,  his  college 
allegiance  remains  unshaken.  It  is  this  which  explains  the 
active  interest  shown  by  our  alumni.  In  the  best  sense  they 
advertise  their  college  to  the  public,  and  it  is  to  their  exer- 
tions the  recent  rapid  advancement  of  many  of  our  colleges 
is  largely  due. 

IX    ORGANIZATION  AND    ADMINISTRATION.       STUDENT    EXPENSES 

The  form  of  government  is  simple.     A  college  corpora- 
tion, legally  considered,  consists  of  a  body  of  men  who  have 


'30  THE  AMERICAN  COLLEGE  [236 

obtained  the  charter  and  who  hold  and  administer  the  prop- 
erty. Where  a  particular  state  has  established  a  college  or 
even  a  university,  which  regularly  includes  a  college,  the 
members  of  the  corporation  are  commonly  styled  regents, 
and  are  appointed  by  the  state  to  hold  office  for  a  limited 
term  of  years.  But  most  colleges  have  been  established  as 
private  corporations.  In  this  case  the  title  is  vested  in  a 
board  of  trustees,  sometimes  composed  of  members  who  hold 
office  for  life,  or  else  composed  of  these  associated  with 
others  who  are  elected  for  a  term  of  years.  Boards  of  trus- 
tees holding  office  for  life  usually  constitute  a  close  corpo- 
ration, electing  their  own  successors  as  vacancies  occur. 
The  two  chief  functions  of  such  governing  bodies,  whether 
known  as  regents  or  trustees  or  by  any  other  name,  are  to 
safeguard  the  intent  of  the  charter  and  to  manage  the  prop- 
erty. They  give  stability  to  our  college  system.  To  carry 
out  the  main  purpose  for  which  the  charter  was  obtained 
they  create  a  faculty  of  professors  and  instructors  and 
entrust  the  general  headship  to  a  president.  The  president 
and  professors  usually  hold  office  for  life.  In  some  places 
provision  is  beginning  to  be  made  for  the  retirement  of  pro- 
fessors on  pensions  as  they  grow  old.  Instructors  and  some- 
times assistant  professors  are  appointed  for  a  limited  time, 
such  appointments  being  subject  to  renewal  or  promotion. 
In  the  larger  colleges  the  president  is  assisted  in  his  admin- 
istrative work  by  one  or  more  deans.  By  immemorial  tradi- 
tion the  president  and  faculty  are  charged  with  the  conduct  of 
the  entire  instruction  and  discipline.  They  have  the  power 
to  admit  and  dismiss  students.  The  conferring  of  degrees 
belongs  to  the  corporation,  but  this  power  is  almost  invari- 
ably exercised  according  to  recommendations  made  by  the 
faculty.  Honorary  degrees,  however,  are  sometimes  given 
by  the  trustees  or  regents  on  their  own  initiative. 

In  state  colleges  the  income  is  derived  from  taxation ;  in 
others  from  endowments,  often  supplemented  by  annual  sub- 
scriptions for  special  purposes.  The  increase  of  income  of 
a  college  founded  by  a  state  depends  on  the  increase  of  the 


237]  THE  AMERICAN  COLLEGE  3 1 

wealth  of  the  state  and  the  liberality  of  disposition  shown  by 
the  legislature.  State  colleges  receive  few  private  gifts. 
But  the  private  colleges  are  cut  off  from  dependence  on  the 
state,  and  have  to  rely  on  private  gifts.  This  stream  of  pri- 
vate liberality  flows  almost  unceasingly.  The  fact  that  many 
colleges  are  integral  parts  of  real  or  so-called  universities 
makes  it  difficult  to  say  how  much  the  specifically  collegiate 
endowments  and  incomes  amount  to.  But  a  few  significant 
facts  may  be  mentioned.  No  college  president,  unless  he  is 
at  the  same  time  the  president  of  a  university,  receives  as  high 
^  a  salary  as  ten  thousand  dollars  annually.  He  is  more  likely 
to  receive  four,  five  or  six  thousand  dollars.  Two  thousand 
dollars  is  considered  a  good  professor's  salary  in  small  col- 
leges ;  three  thousand  is  a  usual  salary  in  the  larger  colleges, 
while  few  professors  receive  more  than  four  thousand. 

The  expenses  of  individual  students  vary  greatly.  In 
some  places  there  is  no  charge  for  tuition ;  in  others  they 
must  pay  as  much  as  one  hundred  or  one  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars.  In  little  country  colleges  the  total  cost  for  a  year 
often  falls  within  three  hundred  dollars ;  in  the  larger  old 
eastern  colleges,  drawing  patronage  from  all  parts  of  the 
land,  the  student  who  must  pay  all  his  bills  and  receives  no 
aid  in  the  form  of  a  scholarship  can  hardly  get  along  with  less 
than  six  or  seven  hundred  dollars,  exclusive  of  his  expenses 
in  the  summer  vacation.  The  average  expenses  in  some  of 
the  oldest  colleges,  according  to  tables  prepared  by  succes- 
sive senior  classes,  is  higher  than  this,  running  up  to  eight 
or  nine  hundred  dollars,  or  even  more.  But  these  institu- 
tions afford  the  student  of  limited  means  multiplied  oppor- 
tunities for  self-help.  There  are  many  instances  where  bright 
boys  have  been  able  to  win  their  way  through,  standing  high 
in  their  classes  and  at  the  same  time  supporting  themselves 
entirely  by  their  own  exertions.  Moreover  many  colleges 
possess  scholarships  which  are  open  to  able  students  who 
need  temporary  pecuniary  help.  The  young  American 
of  narrow  means,  if  he  be  of  fair  ability  and  industry,  can 
almost   always  manage   to  find   his   way   through   college 


32  THE  AMERICAN  COLLEGE  [238 

X    THE   COLLEGE    IS    AMERICAN 

The  college  lies  very  close  to  the  people.  Distinctions  of 
caste  may  manifest  themselves  occasionally,  and  yet  the  col- 
lege is  stoutly  and  we  believe  permanently  democratic.  Its 
relation  to  the  better  side  of  our  national  life  has  been  pro- 
foundly intimate  from  the  beginning.  The  graduates  of 
Harvard  and  Yale  in  New  England,  of  Princeton  and  Colum- 
bia in  the  middle  states,  and  of  the  College  of  William  and 
Mary  in  Virginia  contributed  powerfully  to  the  formation  of 
our  republic.  Edmund  Burke  attributed  the  **  intractable 
spirit "  of  the  Americans  to  "  their  education,"  and  by  this 
he  meant  the  college  education.  "  The  colleges,"  wrote 
President  Stiles  of  Yale  shortly  after  the  revolution,  "have 
been  of  signal  advantage  in  the  present  day.  When  Britain 
withdrew  all  her  wisdom  from  America  this  revolution  found 
above  two  thousand  in  New  England  only,  who  had  been 
educated  in  the  colonies,  intermingling  with  the  people  and 
communicating  knowledge  among  them."  John  Adams  of 
Harvard  delighted  to  find  in  President  Witherspoon  of 
Princeton  "  as  high  a  son  of  liberty  as  any  in  America." 
Hampden-Sidney  college  in  Virginia,  founded  about  the 
time  of  the  revolution,  incorporated  in  its  charter  the  follow- 
ing clause :  "  In  order  to  preserve  in  the  minds  of  the  stu- 
dents that  sacred  love  and  attachment  which  they  should 
ever  bear  to  the  principles  of  the  ever-glorious  revolution, 
the  greatest  care  and  caution  shall  be  used  in  selecting  such 
professors  and  masters,  to  the  end  that  no  person  shall  be 
so  elected  unless  the  uniform  tenor  of  his  conduct  manifest 
to  the  world  his  sincere  affection  for  the  liberty  and  inde- 
pendence of  the  United  States  of  America."  And  from  that 
day  to  this  the  collegiate  spirit  and  the  national  spirit  have 
been  at  one.  Rightly,  indeed,  did  our  appreciative  French 
visitor,  Baron  Pierre  de  Coubertin,  perceive  that  the  place 
to  find  "the  true  Americans"  is  in  our  college  halls;  '' les 
vrais  Americains,  la  base  de  la  nation,  Vespoir  de  Vavenir" 
Scarcely  one  in  a  hundred  of  our  white  male  youth  of  college 


239]  THE  AMERICAN  COLLEGE  33 

age  has  gone  to  college.  But  this  scanty  contingent  has 
furnished  one-half  of  all  the  presidents  of  the  United  States, 
most  of  the  justices  of  the  supreme  court,  not  far  from  one- 
half  of  the  cabinet  and  of  the  national  senate,  and  almost  a 
third  of  the  house  of  representatives.  No  other  single  class 
of  equal  numbers  has  been  so  potent  in  our  national  life. 

FIRST  NOTE A  FEW  STATISTICS 

In  the  reports  of  the  United  States  commissioner  of 
education,  colleges,  universities,  schools  of  technology  and 
professional  schools  are  classed  under  the  general  heading 
of  "  Institutions  for  Higher  Education."  The  latest  report 
is  for  the  academic  year  ending  July  first,  1897.  The  statis- 
tics for  colleges  are  to  be  found  in  chapter  XXXVI  (pp. 
1648-1755).  A  study  of  the  tables  given  discloses  clearly 
the  difficulty  of  separating  the  whole  body  of  collegiate 
facts  by  themselves  and  the  further  difficulty  of  distinguish- 
ing between  the  really  substantial  and  the  nominal  institu- 
tions. "  One  of  the  most  discouraging  features  in  our  system 
of  higher  education,"  says  the  commissioner  in  his  report 
(p.  1647),  '*  is  the  lack  of  any  definite,  or,  in  fact,  in  a  large 
number  of  states  the  lack  of  any  requirements  or  conditions 
exacted  of  institutions  when  they  are  chartered  and  author- 
ized to  confer  degrees.  This  condition  of  affairs  is  largely, 
if  not  entirely,  responsible  for  the  large  number  of  weak, 
so-called  colleges  and  universities  scattered  throughout  our 
country,  institutions  that  are  no  better  than  high  schools, 
and  in  a  large  number  of  cases  do  not  furnish  as  good  an 
education  as  may  be  obtained  in  good  secondary  schools." 
It  is  not  an  exaggeration  to  say  that  more  than  half  of  our 
professed  colleges  are  not  worthy  of  the  name.  Accord- 
ingly since  it  is  impossible  to  separate  and  evaluate  in 
an  exact  way  the  purely  collegiate  statistics,  especially  in 
short  limits,  this  paper  has  been  devoted  to  general  char- 
acterization and  description.  We  are  still  far  from  having 
a  complete  account  of  the  history  and  present  condition  of 
our  colleges.     While  good  special  histories  exist  for  some 


"34  THE  AMERICAN  COLLEGE  [24O 

of  the  older  institutions,  no  comprehensive  and  detailed 
general  account  of  adequate  character  has  yet  been  written. 
In  view  of  the  limited  means  at  its  command,  the  bureau  of 
education  in  Washington  from  year  to  year  has  done  all 
that  could  be  asked  in  its  reports.  But  it  is  greatly  to  be 
desired  that  congress  shall  furnish  the  commissioner  of  edu- 
cation with  the  means  necessary  to  institute  an  elaborate 
and  searching  investigation,  which  shall  bring  to  light  the 
real  status,  the  exact  inner  condition  of  all  the  colleges. 

In  the  report  mentioned,  statistics  for  universities  and 
colleges  are  at  times  necessarily  given  together.  Every  uni- 
versity, with  hardly  an  exception,  contains  a  college.  The 
whole  number  of  professedly  collegiate  students  enrolled  in 
universities  and  colleges  for  men  and  for  both  sexes  and  for 
women  is  84,955  (p.  1654).  The  male  students  number 
52,439  (p.  1670).  The  estimated  population  of  the  United 
States  in  1896  was  70,595,321,  or  one  college  student  to  831 
of  the  population.  The  states  which  enroll  the  greatest 
number  of  students  attending  college  are  : 

Massachusetts 8  1 1 1 

New  York 7257 

Pennsylvania 6  527 

Ohio 5  257 

Illinois 5  692 

College  students  are  found  in  greatest  numbers  in  the 
belt  beginning  in  New  England,  passing  southwestward 
through  the  middle  states,  and  thence  extending  broadly 
across  the  middle  west.  These  northeastern  and  north- 
central  portions  contain  70  per  cent  of  the  college  students 
and  63  per  cent  of  the  population  of  the  whole  country ; 
1 14  colleges,  exclusive  of  colleges  for  women,  enrolling 
31,941  students  and  generally  possessing  the  largest  endow- 
ments, are  under  no  ecclesiastical  control ;  59  colleges, 
enrolling  5,954,  are  Roman  Catholic ;  284  are  under  the 
control  of  various  Protestant  denominations  and  enroll 
29,104.  It  thus  appears  that  the  division  of  student  enroll- 
ment between   non-sectarian  and  sectarian  colleges   is  not 


241]  THE  AMERICAN  COLLEGE  35 

very  uneven,  but  the  non-sectarian  colleges  show  an  average 
enrollment  of  nearly  three  hundred  and  the  church  colleges 
of  about  one  hundred. 

The  number  of  professors  and  instructors  in  all  colleges, 
except  colleges  for  women  only,  is  7,228;  749  of  these  are 
women.  So  far  as  reported  there  were  31,762  students  pur- 
suing the  course  for  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  arts ;  11,812  the 
courses  leading  to  the  degrees  of  bachelor  of  letters  and 
bachelor  of  philosophy;  12,711  the  course  leading  to  the 
degree  of  bachelor  of  science,  and  4,190  the  courses  leading 
to  various  other  first  degrees  of  minor  importance.  The  total 
is  60,475.  These  figures  indicate  that  a  little  more  than 
half  our  collegiate  undergraduates,  who  seek  any  degree, 
are  studying  for  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  arts,  which  still 
generally  means,  with  some  important  exceptions,  that  they 
have  had  a  classical  education.  The  figures  for  the  bachelor 
of  letters  and  the  bachelor  of  philosophy  may  be  properly 
associated  in  one  total  as  representing  the  intermediate  type, 
which  enrolls  a  little  more  than  one-third  of  the  number  study- 
ing for  the  bachelor  of  arts.  The  figures  for  the  bachelor  of 
science,  as  will  be  observed,  do  not  materially  differ  from  the 
total  for  the  bachelor  of  philosophy  and  bachelor  of  letters. 
Turning  to  the  table  on  page  1673  it  appears  that  the  pro- 
portion of  students  who  received  the  degree  of  bachelor  of 
arts  at  graduation  in  1897,  as  compared  with  other  bachelor's 
degrees,  is  very  nearly  the  same  as  the  proportion  indicated 
by  the  figures  which  represent  undergraduate  enrollment. 

SECOND    NOTE: LIST    OF    AMERICAN    COLLEGES    ARRANGED    IN 

CHRONOLOGICAL   ORDER 

As  has  been  explained,  it  is  impossible  at  present  to  effect 
a  perfect  statistical  separation  between  colleges  and  univer- 
sities. The  list  given  below  embraces  all  colleges  and  uni- 
versities reported  up  to  July  first,  1897,  excepting  those  for 
women  only.  It  is  primarily  a  college  list,  although  the 
universities  of  the  country  appear  in  it.  As  a  matter  of  fact 
the  older  real  universities  have  usually  grown  up  around 


36  THE  AMERICAN  COLLEGE  [242 

colleges,  and  strong  universities  of  recent  establishment,  such 
as  Johns  Hopkins  and  Chicago,  regularly  contain  colleges. 
Clark  university  in  Massachusetts  is  the  only  significant 
exception  ;  it  has  no  undergraduate  department.  The  names 
of  many  of  the  older  colleges  have  changed.  Harvard  col- 
lege is  now  the  center  of  Harvard  university  and  Yale  col- 
lege of  Yale  university.  Princeton  university  originated 
under  the  name  of  the  college  of  New  Jersey,  and  Colum- 
bia university  was  Kings  college.  The  most  important 
common  feature  in  the  entire  list  is  the  corporate  right  to 
grant  the  bachelor's  degree. 

The  list  is  classified  under  five  periods.  The  first  includes 
eleven  colleges  founded  before  the  American  revolution. 
They  form  a  distinct  class  by  themselves,  representing  the 
colonial  and  revolutionary  influences.  It  will  be  noticed  that 
they  all  lie  along  the  narrow  strip  of  Atlantic  coast,  extend- 
ing southwestward  from  Massachusetts  to  Virginia.  The 
second  group  is  composed  of  twelve  colleges  founded  imme- 
diately after  the  revolution.  They  likewise  form  a  sepa- 
rable class.  In  spirit  they  were  repetitions  of  the  earlier 
colleges,  and  were  planted  here  and  there  in  the  newer  parts 
of  the  country.  The  third  class  consists  of  thirty-three  col- 
leges founded  between  the  years  1800  and  1830.  The  latter 
date  is  somewhat  arbitrary  ;  but  the  thirty  years  are  taken  to 
include  the  first  marked  development  of  the  United  States 
previous  to  the  wave  of  European  immigration  which  set 
in  strongly  after  1830.  The  fourth  class  contains  one  hun- 
dred and  eighty  colleges.  They  were  founded  in  a  period 
when  the  country  was  rapidly  settling  and  developing.  A 
great  wave  of  immigration  was  flowing  in,  and  the  railrocid 
and  telegraph  were  facilitating  the  westward  distribution  of 
the  new  population.  The  period  was  naturally  brought  to  an 
end  by  the  civil  war.  The  fifth  class  extends  from  the  close 
of  the  civil  war  in  1865  to  the  present  time.  The  interrupted 
national  development  enters  energetically  on  a  new  period 
and  is  represented  on  this  list  by  the  foundation  of  two  hun- 
dred and  thirty-six  colleges, —  just  one-half  of  the  entire  list. 


243] 


THE  AMERICAN  COLLEGE 


37 


1783 
1783 
1785 

1785 

1789 
1791 


1800 
1800 
1 801 
1802 
1802 

1804 
1805 

1807 
1808 

1812 
1817 
1818 
1819 
1819 
1819 
1819 


/    Before  the  American  Revolution    (11) 
W751 


Harvard  University,  Massachu- 
setts 

College  of  William  and  Mary, 
Virginia 

Yale  University,  Connecticut 

Princeton  University,  New  Jer- 
sey 

Washington  and  Lee  University, 
Virginia 


University      of      Pennsylvania, 
Pennsylvania 
^^7^4    Columbia  University,  New  York 
\*7^4     Brown  University,  Rhode  Island 
U566^  Rutgers  College,  New  Jersey 
^j;^7^    Dartmouth  College,  New  Hamp- 
shire 
1776     Hampden-Sidney    College,   Vir- 
ginia 


//    From  the  American  Revolution  to  1800    (12) 


Dickinson  College,  Pennsylvania  I793 

Washington  College,  Maryland  1794 
College    of    Charleston,     South 

Carolina  1794 
University    of    Nashville,    Ten- 
nessee 1795 
St.  John's  College,  Maryland  1795 
Georgetown  University,  District 

of  Columbia  1795 


Williams  College,  Massachusetts 
Greenville   and    Tusculum   Col- 
lege, Tennessee 
University   of   Tennessee,    Ten- 
nessee 
Union  College,  New  York 
University   of    North   Carolina, 

North  Carolina 
Washington  College,  Tennessee 


///    From  1800  to  i8jo    (33) 
1820 


Middlebury  College,  Vermont 
University  of  Vermont,  Vermont 

University  of  Georgia,  Georgia  1820 

Bowdoin  College,  Maine  1820 

Washington    and  Jefferson  Col-  1821 

lege,  Pennsylvania  1821 
Ohio  University,  Ohio 

South    Carolina    College,    South  1822 

Carolina  1824 

Moravian  College,  Pennsylvania  1824 

Mount  St.  Mary's  College,  Mary-  1825 

land  1825 

Hamilton  College,  New  York  1825 

Allegheny  College,  Pennsylvania  1826 
Colby  University,  Maine 

Center  College,  Kentucky  1827 

Colgate  University,  New  York  1828 

Maryville  College,  Tennessee  1829 

Western  University  of  Pennsyl-  1829 

vania,  Pennsylvania  1829 


of 


Gonzaga     College,    District 

Columbia 
Indiana  University,  Indiana 
St.  Mary's  College,  Kentucky 
Amherst  College,   Massachusetts 
Columbian    University,   District 

of  Columbia 
Hobart  College,  New  York 
Miami  University,  Ohio 
Trinity  College,  Connecticut 
Franklin  College,  Ohio 
Kenyon  College,  Ohio 
University  of  Virginia,  Virginia 
Western      Reserve      University, 

Ohio 
Shurtlefif  College,  Illinois 
McKfendree  College,  Illinois 
Georgetown  College,  Kentucky 
Illinois  College,  Illinois 
St.  Louis  University,  Missouri 


IV    From  i8jo  to  1865    (180) 


1830  Spring  Hill  College,  Alabama  1831 

1831  Dennison  University,  Ohio  1831 
1831     New  York  University,  New  York 


University  of  Alabama,  Alabama 
Wesleyan  University,  Connecti- 
cut 


38 


THE  AMERICAN  COLLEGE 


[244 


1832     Hanover  College,  Indiana  1843 

1832     Lafayette  College,  Pennsylvania  1843 

1832     Pennsylvania   College,   Pennsyl-  1844 

vania  1844 

1832     Randolph    Macon    College,  Vir-  1844 

ginia  1844 

1832     Richmond  College,  Virginia  1845 

1832  Wabash  College,  Indiana  1845 

1833  Haverford College,  Pennsylvania  1846 

1833  Oberlin  College,  Ohio  1846 

1834  Delaware  College,  Delaware 

1834     Franklin  College,  Indiana  1846 

1834     Tulane  University,  Louisiana  1846 

1834  Wake     Forest     College,    North  1846 

Carolina 

1835  Marietta  College,  Ohio  1847 

1835  Richmond  College,  Ohio  1847 

1836  Alfred  University,  New  York  1847 
1836     Franklin  and  Marshall  College, 

Pennsylvania  1847 

1836  Kentucky  University,  Kentucky 

1837  Central    High    School,    Pennsyl-  1847 

vania 

1837     Davidson  College,  North  Caro-  1847 

Una  1847 
1837     De  Pauw  University,  Indiana 

1837     Emory  College,  Georgia  1847 

1837     Guilford  College,  North  Carolina  1848 

1837     Knox  College,  Illinois  1848 

1837     Mercer  University,  Georgia  1848 

1837     Muskingum  College,  Ohio  1848 

1837  University  of  Michigan,  Michi-  1848 

gan 

1838  Emory  and  Henry  College,  Vir-  1849 

ginia  1849 

1839  Erskine  College,  South  Carolina  1849 

1839  Concordia  College,  Indiana  1849 

1840  St.  Xavier  College,  Ohio 

1841  Bethany  College,  West  Virginia  1849 
1841     Centenary  College  of  Louisiana, 

Louisiana  1849 

1841  Howard  College,  Alabama 

1842  Cumberland     University,     Ten-  1850 

nessee  1850 

1842     University  of  Notre  Dame,  Indi-  1850 

ana  1850 

1842     University  of  the  State  of  Miss-  1850 

ouri,  Missouri  1850 

1842  Villanova  College,  Pennsylvania 

1843  Albion  College,  Michigan  1850 
1843     College  of  the  Holy  Cross,  Mas- 
sachusetts 1850 


New  Windsor  College,  Maryland 
St.  Vincent's  College,  Missouri 
Iowa  Wesleyan  University,  Iowa 
Milton  College,  Wisconsin 
Ohio  Wesleyan  University,  Ohio 
Willamette  University,  Oregon 
Baylor  University,  Texas 
Wittenberg  College,  Ohio 
Baldwin  University,  Ohio 
Bucknell     University,    Pennsyl- 
vania 
Mount  Union  College,  Ohio 
St.  John's  College,  New  York 
St.   Vincent's    College,    Pennsyl- 
vania 
Beloit  College,  Wisconsin 
Earlham  College,  Indiana 
College  of  the  City  of  New  York, 

New  York 
College  of  the  Immaculate  Con- 
ception, Louisiana 
College    of   St.   Francis    Xavier, 

New  York 
Otterbein  University,  Ohio 
Southwestern  Baptist  University, 

Tennessee 
Taylor  University,  Indiana 
Burritt  College,  Tennessee 
Iowa  College,  Iowa 
Pacific  University,  Oregon 
St.  Charles  College,  Maryland 
University   of   Mississippi,   Mis- 
sissippi 
Geneva  College,  Pennsylvania 
Hiwasse  College,  Tennessee 
Lawrence  University,  Wisconsin 
South    Kentucky    College,    Ken- 
tucky 
William    Jewell     College,     Mis- 
souri 
University   of   Wisconsin,    Wis- 
consin 
Austin  College,  Texas 
Bethel  College,  Tennessee 
Capital  University,  Ohio 
Heidelberg  University,  Ohio 
Hiram  College,  Ohio 
Illinois     Wesleyan     University, 

Illinois 
University   of    Rochester,    New 

York 
University  of  Utah,  Utah 


245] 


THE  AMERICAN  COLLEGE 


39 


1851     Carson    and    Newman    College,  1856 

Tennessee  1856 
1851     Catawba  College,  North  Carolina 

1851     Christian  Brothers  College,  Mis-  1856 

souri  1856 

1851     Santa  Clara  College,  California  1856 

1851     Trinity  College,  North  Carolina  1856 

1851  University  of  the  Pacific,  Cali-  1857 

fornia  1857 

1852  Antioch  College,  Ohio  1857 
1852     Furman  University,  South  Caro-  1857 

lina  1857 

1852  Lombard  University,  Illinois  1857 
1852     Loyola  College,  Maryland 

1852     Mississippi  College,  Mississippi  1857 

1852  Westminster    College,    Pennsyl-  1857 

vania  1858 

1853  Central  University  of  Iowa,  Iowa  1858 
1853     Hedding  College,  Iowa 

1853     Ripon  College,  Wisconsin  1858 
1853     Roanoke  College,  Virginia  1858 
1853     Rutherford  College,  North  Caro- 
lina 1858 

1853  Westminster  College,  Missouri  1858 

1854  Bethel  College,  Kentucky 

1854     Hamline  University,  Minnesota  1858 
1854     Lincoln      University.     Pennsyl- 
vania 1859 
1854     St.  Mary's  University,  Texas  1859 

1854  Woflford  College,  South  Carolina  1859 

1855  Amity  College,  Iowa  1859 
1855  Berea  College,  Kentucky  1859 
1855     Butler  College,  Indiana 

1855     Central    Pennsylvania    College,  1859 

Pennsylvania  1859 
1855     Christian  University,  Missouri 

1855  Eureka  College,  Illinois  1859 
1855     Hillsdale  College,  Michigan 

1855     Kalamazoo  College,  Michigan  1859 

1855     Northwestern    University,    Illi-  1859 

nois  1859 

1855     Polytechnic  Institute  of  Brook-  1859 

lyn.  New  York 

1855     Southwestern  Presbyterian  Uni-  i860 

versity,  Tennessee  i860 
1855     St.  Ignatius  College,  California 

1855  Tufts  College,  Massachusetts  i860 

1856  Keachie  College,  Louisiana 

1856     Mars  Hill  College,  North  Caro-  i860 

lina 

1856     Monmouth  College,  Illinois  i860 

1856     Moores  Hill  College,  Indiana  i860 


Niagara  University,  New  York 
Seminary  of  St.  Francis  of  Sales, 

Wisconsin 
State  University  of  Iowa,  Iowa 
Western  College,  Iowa 
Wilberforce  University,  Ohio 
Setcn  Hall  College,  New  Jersey 
Bowdon  College,  Georgia 
Central  College,  Missouri 
Cornell  College,  Iowa 
Highland  University,  Kansas 
Rock  Hill  College,  Maryland 
Seminary  West  of  the  Suwanee 

River,  Florida 
St.  Meinrad  College,  Indiana 
Upper  Iowa  University,  Iowa 
Baker  University,  Kansas 
Grand    River    Christian    Union 

College,  Missouri 
Legrange  College,  Missouri 
Newberry  College,  South  Caro- 
lina 
St.  Benedict's  College,  Kansas 
St.    Lawrence    University,    New 

York 
Susquehanna   Unirersity,   Penn- 
sylvania 
Adrian  College,  Michigan 
Lenox  College,  Iowa 
McMinnville  College,  Oregon   ^ 
Mission  House,  Wisconsin 
North   Carolina  College,   North 

Carolina 
Olivet  College,  Michigan 
Pennsylvania      State       College, 

Pennsylvania 
St.  Bonaventure's  College,  New 

York 
St.  Francis  College,  New  York 
Southern  University,  Alabama 
Union  Christian  College,  Indiana 
Washington      University,     Mis- 
souri 
Augustana  College,  Illinois 
Louisiana  State  University,  Lou- 
isiana 
Kentucky     Wesleyan     College, 

Kentucky 
St.  Francis  Solanus  College,  Illi- 
nois 
St.  Stephen's  College,  New  York 
Wheaton  College,  Illinois 


40 

i86i 
1861 
1861 
1861 

1862 

1862 
1862 

1862 


1865 
1865 
1865 
1865 
1865 

1865 

1865 

1865 
1865 
1865 
1865 
1865 
1866 


1866 

1866 
1866 

1866 
1866 
1866 
1866 
1866 
1866 
1866 
1867 
1867 

1867 

1867 
1867 

1867 


THE  AMERICAN  COLLEGE 


[246 


Blackburn  University,  Illinois  1862 
Luther  College,  Iowa 

Northwestern  College,  Illinois  1863 

Pacific  Methodist  College,  Cali-  1863 

fornia  1863 

GustavusAdolphus  College,  Min-  1863 

nesota 

Oskaloosa  College,  Iowa  1864 

Pennsylvania    Military   College,  1864 

Pennsylvania 

St.   Joseph's   Diocesan   College,  1864 

Illinois  1864 


University  of  Washington,  Wash- 
ington 
Bates  College,  Maine 
Boston  College,  Massachusetts 
Manhattan  College,  New  York 
Roger  Williams  University,  Ten- 
nessee 
Central  Wesleyan  College,  Mo. 
Gallaudet    College,    District    of 

Columbia 
German  Wallace  College,  Ohio 
University  of  Denver,  Colorado 


V    From  1865  to  the  Present  Time    (236) 


Des  Moines  College,  Iowa  1867 
Hope  College,  Michigan  1867 
Jefferson  College,  Louisiana  1867 
Lane  University,  Kansas  1867 
Northwestern    University,  Wis- 
consin 1867 
Northern   Illinois   College,  Illi- 
nois 1868 
Ottawa  University,  Kansas  1868 
Shaw  University,  North  Carolina 
St.  Vincent's  College,  California  1868 
University  Institute,  Mississippi  1868 
Washburn  College,  Kansas  1868 
Westfield  College,  Illinois 
Agricultural     and      Mechanical  1868 
College    of    Kentucky,    Ken-  1868 
tucky  1868 
Central  Tennessee  College,  Ten- 
nessee 1868 
Fisk  University,  Tennessee 
Lebanon  Valley   College,  Penn-  1868 
sylvania  1868 
Lehigh  University,  Pennsylvania 
Lincoln  University,  Illinois  1869 
Pritchett  College,  Missouri  1869 
Scio  College,  Ohio  1869 
University  of  Kansas,  Kansas 
Tabor  College,  Iowa  i86g 
Whitman  College,  Washington  .  1869 
Ewing  College,  Illinois  1869 
Howard  University,  District  of  1869 
Columbia  1869 
King  College,  Tennessee 
LaSalle  College,  Pennsylvania  1869 
Muhlenberg    College,     Pennsyl-  1869 

vania 

Philomath  College,  Oregon  1870 


Ridgeville  College,  Indiana 
Simpson  Cohege,  Iowa 
St.  John's  University,  Minnesota 
U.    S.    Grant    University,    Ten- 
nessee 
West  Virginia  University,  West 

Virginia 
Avalon  College,  Missouri 
Biddle  University.  North  Caro- 
lina 
Clark  University,  Georgia 
Cornell  University,  New  York 
St.  Benedict's  College,  New  Jer- 
sey. 
St.  Viateur's  College,  Illinois 
University  of  Illinois,  Illinois 
University  of  Minnesota,  Minne- 
sota 
University   of   the   South,    Ten- 
nessee 
Wartburg  College,  Iowa 
Western       Maryland       College, 

Maryland 
Atlanta  University,  Georgia 
Augsburg   Seminary,  Minnesota 
Claflin   University,  South  Caro- 
lina 
Rust  University,  Mississippi 
St.  Ignatius  College,  Illinois 
St.  Mary's  College,  Kansas 
Straight  University,  Louisiana 
Swarthmore     College,    Pennsyl- 
vania 
Trinity  University,  Texas 
University   of   California,   Cali- 
fornia 
California  College,  California 


247] 


THE  AMERICAN  COLLEGE 


41 


1870  Carleton  College,  Minnesota  1876 
1870    Carthage  College,  Illinois 

1870    Canisius  College,  New  York  1876 

1870    Leland  University,  Louisiana  1876 

1870    Ohio  State  University,  Ohio  1876 

1870    St.  John's  College,  New  York  1876 

1870     Thiel  College,  Pennsylvania  1876 

1870     University  of  Wooster,  Ohio  1877 

1870     Ursinus  College,  Pennsylvania  1877 

1870  Wilmington  College,  Ohio  1877 

1871  Christian  Brothers  College,  Ten- 

nessee 1877 

1871     Evangelical    Proseminary,    Illi-  1878 

nois 

1871     Syracuse  University,  New  York  X878 

1871  University   of    Nebraska,    Neb-  1878 

raska  1878 

1872  Arkansas  College,  Arkansas  1878 
1872    Arkansas  Industrial  University,  1878 

Arkansas 

1872     Boston     University,     Massachu-  1878 

setts 

1872    Buchtel  College,  Ohio  1880 

1872     Doane  College,  Nebraska  1880 

1872     Morrisville  College,  Missouri  1880 

1872  St.  Joseph's  College,  Ohio 

1873  Add-Ran  University,  Texas  1880 
1873     Drury  College,  Missouri 

1873     German  Collegfe,  Iowa  1880 

1873    New  Orleans  University,  Louisi-  1880 

ana 

1873     North  Georgia  Agricultural  Col-  1881 

lege,  Georgia  1881 

1873     Penn  College,  Iowa  i88i 

1873     Southwestern  University,  Texas  1881 

1873     University  of  Cincinnati,  Ohio  1881 

1873    Weaverville  College^  North  Caro-  1882 

lina  1882 

1873  Wiley  University,  Texas  1882 

1874  Battle  Creek  College,  Michigan  1882 
1874  Central  University,  Kentucky  1882 
1874    Colorado  College,  Colorado  1882 

1874  Sweetwater  College,  Tennessee 

1875  Knoxville  College,  Tennessee  1882 
1875  Liberty  College,  Kentucky  1882 
1875  Park  College,  Missouri  1882 
1875     St.  Olaf  College,  Minnesota 

1875  Vanderbilt   University,   Tennes-  1883 

see  1883 

1876  College    of    the   Sacred    Heart,  1883 

Colorado  1883 
1876     Chaddock  College,  Illinois 


Johns  Hopkins  University,  Mary- 
land 
Lake  Forest  University,  Illinois 
Morgan  College,  Maryland 
Parsons  College,  Iowa 
Rio  Grande  College,  Ohio 
University  of  Oregon,  Oregon 
Detroit  College,  Michigan 
Ogden  College,  Kentucky 
Philander  Smith  College,  Arkan- 
sas 
University  of  Colorado,  Colorado 
Alabama  Baptist  Colored  Univer- 
sity, Alabama 
Brigham  Young  College,  Utah 
College  of  Montana,  Montana 
Creighton  College,  Nebraska 
Holy  Ghost  College, Pennsylvania 
Southwest  Baptist  College,  Mis- 
souri 
St.  Mary's  College,  North  Caro- 
lina 
Allen  University,  South  Carolina 
Drake  University,  Iowa 
Indian    University,  Indian  Ter- 
ritory 
Presbyterian  College   of    South 

Carolina,  South  Carolina 
University  of  Omaha,  Nebraska 
University  of  Southern  Califor- 
nia, California 
Bethany  College,  Kansas 
Fort  Worth  University,  Texas 
Marquette  College,  Wisconsin 
Paul  Quinn  College,  Texas 
St.  Edward's  College,  Texas 
Bridgewater  College,  Virginia 
Campbell  University,  Kansas 
Coe  College,  Iowa 
Gates  College,  Nebraska 
Hastings  College,  Nebraska 
Livingstone  College,  North  Caro- 
lina 
Milligan  College,  Tennessee 
Pike  College,  Missouri 
University    of    South    Dakota, 

South  Dakota 
University  of  Texas,  Texas 
Yankton  College,  South  Dakota 
College  of  Emporia,  Kansas 
John     B.     Stetson     University, 
Florida 


42 


THE  AMERICAN  COLLEGE 


[248 


3883     Missouri  Wesleyan  College,  Mis- 
souri 
1883     Tarkio  College,  Missouri 

1883  Pierre  University,  South  Dakota 

1884  Fairfield  College,  Nebraska 
1884     Florida   State  Agricultural   Col- 
lege, Florida 

1884     Grove  City  College,  Pennsylvania 
1884     Hendrix  College,  Arkansas 

1884  University    of     North     Dakota, 

North  Dakota 

1885  Colfax  College,  Washington 
1885     Dakota  College,  South  Dakota 
1885     Defiance  College,  Ohio 

1885     French  American  College,  Massa- 
chusetts 
1885     Lafayette  College,  Alabama 
1885     Macalester  College,  Minnesota 
1885     Morris  Brown  College,  Georgia 

1885  Young    L.    G.    Harris    College, 

Georgia 

1886  Findlay  College,  Ohio 

1886     Florida      Conference      College, 

Florida 
1886     Kansas     Wesleyan     University, 

Kansas 
1886    Ouachita  Baptist  College,  Arkan- 
sas 
1886     Rollins  College,  Florida 
1886     Searcy  College,  Arkansas 
1886     Southwest  Kansas  College,  Kan- 
sas 
1886    St.  Ignatius  College,  Ohio 
1886    State     University     of     Nevada, 
Nevada 

1886  Union  College,  Kentucky 

1887  Alma  College,  Michigan 

1887     Cooper  Memorial  College,  Kan- 
sas 
1887     Fargo  College,  North  Dakota 
1887     Gonzaga  College,  Washington 
1887     Midland  College,  Kansas 
1887     Occidental  College,  California 

1887  University    of   Wyoming,    Wyo- 

ming 

1888  Barboursville  College,  West  Vir- 

ginia 
1888     Cotner  University,  Nebraska 
1888     Nannie    Lou    Warthen   College. 

Georgia 
1888     Nebraska  Wesleyan  University, 

Nebraska 


890 


890 

890 
890 
890 
890 
890 

890 


890 
890 


890 
891 

891 
891 
891 
891 
891 
891 
891 

891 
891 
891 
891 
891 


892 
892 


Parker  College,  Minnesota 
Pomona  College,  California 
Scarritt     Collegiate      Institute, 

Missouri 
Catholic  University  of  America, 

District  of  Columbia 
(Clark      University,     Massachu- 
setts) 
Lafayette  Seminary,  Oregon 
Missouri    Valley    College,    Mis- 
souri 
Arkadelphia  Methodist  College, 

Arkansas 
Benzonia  College,  Michigan 
Black  Hills  College,  South   Da- 
kota 
Blount  College,  Alabama 
Elon  College,  North  Carolina 
Howard  Payne  College,  Texas 
Lineville  College,  Alabama 
Montana   Wesleyan    University, 

Montana 
Morningside  College,  Iowa 
Puget  Sound  University,  Wash- 
ington 
St.  Leo  Military  College,  Florida 
Volant  College,  Pennsylvania 
Whitworth     College,    Washing- 
ton 
York  College,  Nebraska 
Arkansas    Cumberland    College 

Arkansas 
Austin  College,  Illinois 
Buena  Vista  College,  Iowa 
Charles  City  College,  Iowa 
Duquesne  College,  Pennsylvania 
Greer  College,  Illinois 
Lenoir  College,  North  Carolina 
Leland  Stanford  Junior  Univer- 
sity, California 
Pacific  College,  Oregon 
Polytechnic  College,  Texas 
Portland  University,  Oregon 
St.  Bede  College,  Illinois 
Throop     Polytechnic    Institute, 

California 
Union  College,  Nebraska 
University  of  Arizona,  Arizona 
Central  Christian  College,   Mis- 
souri 
Fairmount  College,  Kansas 
Henry  College,  Texas 


H9] 


THE  AMERICAN  COLLEGE 


43 


1892 
1892 


1892 
1892 
1892 
1892 

1892 
1892 

1893 


Millsaps  College,  Mississippi  1893 

Northwest  Missouri  College,  Mis-  1893 

souri  1893 
Red    River    Valley    University, 

North  Dakota  1893 

St.  Bernard  College,  Alabama  1893 
University  of  Chicago,  Illinois 

University  of  Idaho,  Idaho  1894 

University  of  Oklahoma,   Okla-  1894 

homa 

Vashon  College,  Washington  1894 

Walla  Walla  College,  Washing-  1895 

ton  1896 

American    Temperance    Univer-  1897 

sity,  Tennessee 


Fredericksburg  College,  Virginia 

Lima  College,  Ohio 

Mountain  Home  Baptist  College, 

Arkansas 
Soule  College,  Kansas 
St.     John's     Lutheran     College, 

Kansas 
Cedarville  College,  Ohio 
Henry  Kendall  College,  Indian 

Territory 
St.  Louis  College,  Texas 
University  of  Montana,  Montana 
Adelphi  College,  New  York 
Atlanta  Baptist  College,  Georgia 


Department   of  Education 

FOR  THE 

United   States   Commission   to   the   Paris   Exposition   or   1900 


MONOGRAPHS    ON     EDUCATION 


UNITED     STATES 

BDITBD  BY 

NICHOLAS  MURRAY  BUTLER 

Professor  of  Philosophy  and  Education  in  Columbia  University,  New  York 


THE  AMERICAN    UNIVERSITY 


BY 


EDWARD  DELAVAN  PERRY,  Ph.  D., 

Jay  Professor  of  the  Greek  Language  and  Literature,  Columbia  University, 

New  York 


This  Monograph  is  contributed  to  the  United  States  Educational  Exhibit  by  the 

State  or  New  York 


THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY 


I     INTRODUCTION.       DO     UNIVERSITIES     OR     THEIR     EQUIVALENT 
EXIST    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES? 

Professor  Ladd  of  Yale  university,  in  an  essay  originally 
read  before  the  "  Round  Table"  of  Boston,  about  1888,  and 
republished  in  his  little  book.  The  Higher  Education,^  says : 
*'  Any  one  possessed  of  the  requisite  information  knows  at 
once  what  is  meant  by  the  university  of  France,  the  English 
universities,  or  a  German  university ;  but  no  one  can  become 
so  conversant  with  facts  as  to  tell  what  an  American  uni- 
versity is."  And  again:  " —  it  is  scarcely  less  true  than  it 
was  a  score  of  years  ago,  that,  although  there  may  be  uni- 
versities in  America,  no  one  can  tell  what  an  American 
university  is." 

A  discouraging  statement  certainly,  if  true,  for  the  would- 
be  exponent  of  the  American  university !  While  not  so 
accurate  at  the  present  day  as  when  first  made,  it  is  still  true 
enough,  if  one  fail  to  free  himself  at  the  very  start  from 
dependence  upon  the  name  as  necessarily  indicative  of  the 
thing.  It  is  incontestable  that  within  the  last  ten  years  the 
conception  of  the  natural  and  necessary  relation  of  the  "  uni- 
versity "  to  the  "  college  "  has  become  much  clearer,  and  that 
many  and  important  changes  of  organization  and  adminis- 
tration have  resulted,  so  that  it  is  certainly  easier  than  it  was 
in  1888  to  define,  or  at  least  to  describe,  the  American  uni- 
versity. However,  there  remain  difificulties  of  many  kinds ; 
and  it  still  is,  and  will  undoubtedly  be  for  years  to  come,  if 
not  actually  impossible,  at  least  very  difficult,  to  give  a  defini- 
tion broad  enough  to  include  all  institutions  of  learning  in 
the  United  States  which  possess  true  university  character, 
and  precise  enough  to  exclude  all  others. 

*N.  Y.,  Chas.  Scribner's  Sons,  1899. 


4  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  [254 

The  first  difficulty  is  this :  The  names  "  university  "  and 
"  college,"  as  used  in  the  official  titles  of  institutions,  are 
absolutely  worthless  as  indications  of  the  character  of  these 
institutions.  Among  the  scores  of  titular  "  universities  "  in 
this  country  most  are  merely  colleges,  some  good,  some  indif- 
ferent, some  so  badly  endowed  and  organized  as  to  be  not 
even  good  high  schools.  On  the  other  hand,  Bryn  Mawr 
"  college  "  has  never  assumed,  even  in  informal  use,  the  name 
"  university,"  yet  offers  true  university  instruction  of  the 
highest  order  in  most  of  the  subjects  covered  by  the  philo- 
sophise he  Fakult'dt  of  a  German  university  ;  and  even  Har- 
vard and  Columbia,  though  they  have  now  acquired  a  true 
university  character,  of  a  very  elaborate  type,  and  are  habitu- 
ally spoken  of  as  such,  have  retained  in  their  corporate  titles 
their  ancient  designation  of  "  college."  It  happens  that  in 
the  most  eastern  states  the  word  "  university  "  is  much  less 
used  as  a  title,  the  higher  institutions  of  learning  having 
mostly  been  founded  while  the  English  influence  was  still 
strong,  many  of  them  indeed  in  colonial  times,  under  direct 
English  authority,  and  so  having  adopted  the  peculiarly  Eng- 
lish name  of  "  college."  In  the  newer  states  more  ambitious 
plans  prevailed,  and  the  consideration  of  conditions  in  non- 
English  European  countries  —  notably  those  of  Germany, 
where  the  universities  had  obtained  a  more  commanding 
position  and  influence  than  elsewhere  by  the  beginning  of 
the  19th  century  —  led  to  the  choice  of  the  name  of  appar- 
ently greater  dignity.  This  consideration  seems  also  to  have 
been  paramount  with  the  founders  of  the  countless  purely 
sectarian  institutions  which  sprang  up  all  over  the  country, 
and  still  lead  a  precarious  existence,  striving  to  hold  the 
attention  of  their  brethren  in  the  faith  by  promiscuously 
showering  down  honorary  degrees.  Yet  it  would  be  grossly 
unfair  to  assume  that  in  all  cases  the  name  of  university  was 
adopted  out  of  pure  conceit ;  in  many  the  choice  of  name 
was  the  proclamation  of  a  purpose  sincerely  cherished,  and 
resolutely  carried  forward,  amid  difficulties  of  which  the 
European  critic  can   form  no  conception,  to  a  realization 


255]  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  5 

more  or  less  complete.  It  will  be  necessary  then  to  get  rid 
of  this  first  difficulty  by  ignoring  completely  the  difference 
in  title.  If  we  shall  succeed  in  describing  the  things  though 
we  may  be  ever  conscious  of  the  unfortunate  ambiguity  of 
terms,  now  doubtless  too  firmly  fixed  in  official  and  legal 
use  to  be  easily  changed,  we  may  rest  content. 

Another  difficulty  is  this.  It  is  now  clearly  seen  that,  as 
institutions,  the  college  and  the  university,  having  very  dif- 
ferent functions,  demand  a  different  organization  and  admin- 
istration. Yet  the  full  recognition  of  this  fact  is  compara- 
tively recent,  and  the  logical  consequences  have  been  reached 
in  only  a  few  instances.  The  circumstances  of  foundation 
and  the  necessities  of  the  hour  have  made  it  practically 
impossible  for  the  university  and  the  college  in  the  United 
States  to  exist  apart.  There  are  still  but  two  institutions 
which  may  be  called  even  fragmentary  universities  entirely 
unconnected  with  a  college  :  The  Clark  university  of  Worces- 
ter, Mass.,  and  the  Catholic  university  of  America  at  Wash- 
ington. Down  to  1876,  when  the  Johns  Hopkins  university 
was  opened,  whatever  real  university  instruction  was  offered 
was  organized  at  a  college  already  existing,  and  even  the 
founders  of  the  Johns  Hopkins,  though  their  chief  purpose 
was  avowedly  to  provide  for  university  instruction  of  the 
highest  grade,  felt  it  necessary  or  at  least  advisable  to  organ- 
ize a  college  also.  The  wide  scope  planned  for  Cornell 
university,  opened  in  1868,  from  the  first  necessarily  included 
a  college,  nay,  many  colleges,  as  part  of  the  scheme.  In  all 
discussion  of  the  American  university,  therefore,  in  this 
article  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  term  (with  the  two 
exceptions  noted  above)  is  used  to  include  only  certain  parts 
of  institutions  whose  organism  is  often  highly  complex,  and 
that  probably  no  two  institutions  coincide  in  theory  or  even 
in  practice,  though  certain  principles  and  practices  are  com- 
mon to  those  of  more  complete  type. 

What  then  is  that  American  university,  a  description  of 
which  is  here  undertaken,  if  it  does  not  anywhere  exist  in 
completeness  and   exactness,  unobscured   by   contact  with 


6  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  [256 

institutions  of  different  character  and  divergent  aims  ?  It 
will  be  least  misleading  to  say  at  the  outset :  It  is  nowhere. 
In  so  far,  therefore,  Professor  von  Hoist's  famous  pronounce- 
ment is  right ;  a  university  in  the  European  sense  does  not 
exist  in  America.  And  yet,  from  Harvard  on  the  Atlantic 
tidewater  to  the  University  of  California,  which  looks  out 
through  the  Golden  Gate  upon  the  Pacific,  and  from  Minne- 
apolis to  New  Orleans,  will  be  found  many  institutions  which 
offer  training  in  the  methods  of  scientific  research,  oppor- 
tunities for  the  prosecution  of  such  research,  and  abundant 
facilities  in  the  way  of  libraries,  museums  and  laboratories, 
to  those  individuals  who  have  had  such  preliminary  training 
as  to  be  able  to  profit  fully  by  these  advantages,  and  which 
certify  by  the  formal  bestowal  of  a  particular  degree  or 
degrees  that  the  individual  receiving  one  of  them  has  proved 
himself  or  herself  to  have  acquired  the  methods  and  habits 
of  such  scientific  research.  This  is  equivalent  to  saying,  in 
the  technical  language  in  vogue  in  the  United  States,  that 
these  institutions  offer  to  graduate  students  courses  leading 
to  advanced  or  higher  degrees.  Where  such  courses  are 
well  organized  and  equipped  and  successfully  maintained, 
there  is  a  university  at  least  in  part,  and,  it  may  be,  in  the 
whole.  Whether  the  institution  do  only  this,  or  this  and 
many  other  things  besides,  and  whether  it  be  called  univer- 
sity or  college,  may  be  important  questions  from  some  points 
of  view  ;  for  the  point  of  view  of  this  discussion  the  exist- 
ence of  such  organization  for  research  work  by  graduates  is 
the  test,  and  it  is  its  purpose  to  describe  as  clearly  as  possi- 
ble such  organization  of  this  character  as  may  be  found  in 
the  United  States  of  America.  Apparent  or  evident  diva- 
gations from  this  strict  purpose  will  perhaps  find  readier 
pardon  from  the  foregoing  allusions  to  some  of  the  diffi- 
culties in  the  way. 


257]  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY 


II    DIFFERENT  FORMS  OF   AMERICAN    UNIVERSITIES.       THE    STATE 
UNIVERSITIES.       CONTRAST    WITH    EUROPEAN    UNIVERSITIES 

It  has  often  been  remarked  by  observant  foreign  travel- 
lers in  the  United  States  that  among  this  young  people 
many  institutions  change  less  rapidly  than  in  the  older 
nations  of  Europe.  This  conservatism,  in  large  part  an 
English  trait  persisting  through  many  generations,  is  par- 
ticularly observable  in  the  field  of  education ;  experiments 
are  carefully  tried,  downright  innovations  still  less  willingly 
adopted.  Only  where  occasion  is  offered  for  new  founda- 
tions are  we  apt  to  find  a  ready  breaking  with  traditional 
forms.  When,  on  reviewing  the  American  institutions  of 
learning  to  discover  which  of  them  give  the  opportunities  for 
training  in  the  methods  of  research  that  we  have  taken  as 
our  standard  of  measurement,  we  find  them  to  be  almost 
without  exception  colleges,  or  technical  schools,  or  pro- 
fessional schools  as  well,  or  all  of  these  together,  we  shall 
also  find  that  they  were  generally  colleges  first  of  all,  and 
that  training  in  research  was  made  a  part  of  the  system  only 
later,  very  gradually  and  hesitatingly,  the  two  institutions 
which  disclaim  all  "  college  "  work  being  almost  the  youngest, 
and  one  of  them  not  yet  displaying  a  very  encouraging 
vitality.  We  shall  find  also  that  one  of  the  oldest  and  most 
famous  colleges  of  all,  Yale,  was  also  the  first  to  institute 
regular  courses  of  instruction  for  those  who  wished  to  pur- 
sue their  studies  after  receiving  the  degree  of  bachelor  of 
arts. 

A.    Universities  unconnected  with  colleges 

I  Clark  university,  Worcester,  Mass. —  Clark  university 
was  founded  in  1887  by  the  generous  gift  of  Mr.  Jonas  G. 
Clark,  and  the  work  of  instruction  was  begun  in  1889,  From 
the  first  the  range  of  the  future  university  was  strictly  lim- 
ited ;  there  was  to  be  no  college,  no  technical  school,  no  pro- 
fessional schools  pure  and  simple.  Only  those  who  had 
taken  a  first  degree  were  to  be  admitted,  and  of  these  only 


8  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  [258 

such  individuals  as  should  give  promise  of  high  attainments 
in  some  specialty  of  scientific  research.  The  design  and 
organization  of  the  new  institution  were  intrusted  to  Mr. 
Stanley  G.  Hall,  for  some  years  professor  of  philosophy  at 
Johns  Hopkins  university  in  Baltimore.  Only  a  few  depart- 
ments were  organized,  and  these  were  intended  to  cover  sub- 
jects closely  and  organically  connected,  viz. :  mathematics, 
physics,  chemistry,  biology  (including  anatomy,  physiology 
and  palaeontology)  and  psychology  (including  neurology, 
anthropology,  criminology  and  history  of  philosophy).  It 
was  strongly  emphasized  in  the  scheme  of  foundation  that  so 
far  as  possible  the  line  of  demarcation  between  professor 
and  student  should  be  wiped  out ;  the  professors  and  other 
instructors  were  to  feel  themselves  as  merely  older  students, 
the  students  were  to  be  expected  to  lecture  occasionally  on 
topics  connected  with  their  chosen  specialties.  The  attempt 
to  secure  large  numbers  of  students  was  expressly  dis- 
claimed. Seminar-organization  was  adopted  as  the  essential 
plan  of  the  institution,  one  which  should  bind  together 
instructors  and  students  into  homogenous  groups.  For  suc- 
cessful completion  of  certain  requirements  of  research, 
including  the  publication  of  an  acceptable  dissertation,  the 
degree  of  doctor  of  philosophy  was  offered.  A  number  of 
fellowships  and  scholarships  were  established,  making  it 
possible  for  students  of  limited  means  to  carry  on  their 
researches  unhampered  by  the  necessity  of  seeking  lucrative 
employment  outside  of  their  university  studies. 

As  was  expected,  the  number  of  students  has  never  been 
great;  it  has  varied  from  53  in  1892-3  to  38  in  1896-7  and 
48  in  1898-9.  The  number  of  instructors  has  remained 
nearly  constant,  being  in  1898-9  10.  The  departments  at 
present  (1899)  organized  are  the  following:  Mathematics, 
biology,  philosophy,  physics,  pedagogy,  psychology  and 
anthropology ;  it  is  intended  to  organize  others  from  time 
to  time,  in  logical  order  of  development.  Thus  far  Clark 
university,  judged  by  its  size  alone,  is  a  "  torso  of  a  univer- 
sity,"   to   use    Professor   von    Hoist's   famous   phrase ;    its 


259]  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY-  9 

methods,  however,  and  the  character  of  the  work  accom- 
plished there,  are  thoroughly  those  of  the  most  fully 
developed  universities  of  the  old  world. 

2  The  Catholic  university  of  America,  Washington,  D.  C. — 
The  inception  of  this  institution  dates  from  1884,  when 
its  establishment  was  decided  upon  at  a  Roman  Catholic 
congress  held  in  Baltimore.  The  actual  work  of  instruction 
was  begun  in  1889,  in  the  school  of  theology.  The  univer- 
sity is  now  constituted  as  follows : 

1  School  of  divinity,  comprising  four  departments  :  a  Bib- 
lical sciences ;  b  Dogmatic  sciences ;  c  Moral  sciences ; 
d  Historical  sciences. 

2  School  of  philosophy,  comprising  six  departments : 
a  Philosophy  ;  b  Letters ;  c  Mathematics ;  d  Physics ;  e 
Chemistry  ;    f  Biological  sciences. 

For  admission  to  the  school  of  philosophy  candidates  must 
have  received  the  bachelor's  degree,  or  show  by  passing  an 
examination  that  they  have  received  the  full  equivalent  of  a 
collegiate  course  of  training.  Two  degrees  are  granted, 
master  of  philosophy  (Ph.  M.),  after  two  years'  graduate 
study,  an  examination  on  a  major  and  a  minor  subject,  and 
the  presentation  of  a  satisfactory  dissertation  ;  and  doctor 
of  philosophy,  after  not  less  than  three  years'  graduate 
study,  an  examination  on  a  major  and  two  minor  subjects, 
and  a  satisfactory  dissertation. 

3  The  school  of  social  science,  comprising  four  depart- 
ments :  a  Sociology ;  b  Economics ;  c  Political  science ; 
d  Law. 

The  first  three  of  these  constitute  a  school  of  social 
science,  or  political  science,  in  a  narrower  sense.  Three 
degrees  are  offered,  bachelor,  master  and  doctor  of  social 
science ;  no  specific  period  of  study  is  prescribed  for  them, 
but  satisfactory  dissertations  are  required  and  examinations 
must  be  passed.  The  department  of  law  is  somewhat  differ- 
ently organized,  and  grants  six  degrees :  bachelor  and  mas- 
ter of  laws,  doctor  of  civil  law,  doctor  of  ecclesiastical  law, 
doctor  of  civil  and  ecclesiastical  law  (J.  U.  D.),  and  doctor 


lO  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  [260 

of  laws  (LL.  D.).  The  holding  of  a  bachelor's  degree, 
while  not  demanded  for  admission  to  the  school  of  law,  is 
urgently  recommended. 

4  The  institute  of  technology  consists  of  four  depart- 
ments :  a  Applied  mathematics ;  b  Civil  engineering ;  c 
Electrical  engineering ;  d  Mechanical  engineering. 

Neither  Clark  university  nor  the  Catholic  university  of 
America  admits  women  to  any  of  its  courses  of  instruction. 

B.   Universities  united  with  colleges  and  professional  and 

technical  schools 
The  union  of  college  and  university  may  fairly  be  called 
the  typical  American  form  of  organization  for  the  higher 
education.  Only  in  the  institutions  of  comparatively  recent 
origin  do  we  find  that  university  organization  was  attempted 
from  the  first.  The  professional  and  technical  schools  have 
generally  occupied  a  position  of  great  independence  toward 
the  institution  as  a  whole,  in  many  cases  having  hardly 
more  than  the  name  in  common,  but  possessing  their  own 
budgets  and  boards  of  trustees,  sometimes  even  being  admin- 
istered as  proprietary  schools,  wherein  the  professors  divided 
among  themselves  the  fees  paid  by  the  students.  The 
medical  schools  have  been  the  most  independent  in  this 
respect.  It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  in  the  case  of 
such  complex  institutions  the  name  "  university  "  is  applied 
to  the  whole,  so  that,  theoretically  at  least,  the  university 
may  include  the  equivalent  of  a  German  university,  technische 
Hochschule  (formerly  called  Polytechnicuin)^  landwirtschaft- 
liche  Hochschule  or  agricultural  college,  and  Gymnasium. 
Passing  under  review  the  many  types  of  organization 
wherein  university  and  college  are  united,  we  shall  find  that 
in  most  cases  the  graduate  and  undergraduate  work  are  car- 
ried on  by  the  same  individuals,  so  that,  instead  of  a  univer- 
sity and  a  college  being  in  alliance,  so  to  speak,  as  might  be 
said  if  the  body  of  instructors  of  each  part  were  composed 
of  quite  different  individuals,  with  one  governing  body  for 
the  whole,  we  have  to  do  really  with  a  complex  and  overlap- 


26 1]  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  II 

ping  Structure.  Herein  lies,  it  must  be  said,  one  of  the 
greatest  disadvantages  for  the  American  university,  though 
there  are  valuable  compensations.  The  American  univer- 
sity professor  is  rarely  able  to  devote  himself  exclusively  to 
advanced  scientific  work  with  well-prepared  students,  but 
must,  in  most  cases,  carry  on  a  good  deal  of  mere  class 
work  as  well,  which  cannot  but  prove  detrimental  to  the 
progress  of  his  researches. 

The  many  institutions  falling  under  this  head  illustrate 
almost  as  many  principles  of  combination  as  there  are  insti- 
tutions. A  detailed  description  of  all  is  of  course  impossi- 
ble here  ;  those  that  are  chosen  as  the  most  instructive  types 
may  best  be  grouped  in  two  classes : 

Into  the  first  class  {a)  will  come  those  which,  though  pos- 
sessing both  a  collegiate  or  undergraduate  and  a  graduate 
department,  yet  in  practice  draw  a  hard  and  fast  line  between 
the  two,  conducting  the  undergraduate  and  graduate  courses 
as  entirely  separate,  sometimes  with  quite  different  methods, 
and  rigidly  excluding  from  the  latter  courses  all  who  have 
not  taken  a  baccalaureate  degree  or  its  equivalent  (as  for 
example  the  testimonium  maturitatis  or  Reifezeugniss  of  a 
German  gymnasium).  Very  few  institutions  belong  in  this 
first  group. 

a 

I  Johns  Hopkins  university  —  This  famous  establishment, 
the  good  influence  of  which  upon  the  general  development  of 
higher  education  in  the  United  States  has  been  incalculably 
great,  was  founded  by  the  noble  bequests  of  Johns  Hopkins,  a 
citizen  of  Baltimore.  Mr.  Hopkins  devoted  nearly  all  of  his 
estate,  amounting  to  more  than  three  and  a  half  million  dol- 
lars, to  the  foundation  of  a  university  and  a  hospital.  The 
institution  was  incorporated  in  1867  ;  the  board  of  trustees 
was  organized  in  1870,  and  held  its  first  meeting  in  1874. 
In  the  same  year  Professor  Daniel  Coit  Oilman,  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  California,  and  previously  of  Yale  university,  was 
elected  president.  The  work  of  instruction  was  begun  in 
1876  ;  from  the  first  the  chief  aim  was  proclaimed  to  be  the 


12  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  [262 

development  of  instruction  in  the  methods  of  scientific 
research.  An  undergraduate  or  collegiate  course  was  also 
arranged,  intended  to  give  the  best  possible  preparation  for 
the  advanced  work,  and  leading  to  the  degree  of  bachelor 
of  arts.  In  the  university  proper  only  a  faculty  of  philoso- 
phy was  organized,  as  the  faculty  of  medicine,  which  was 
also  planned,  had  to  wait  for  its  realization  upon  the  open- 
ing of  the  hospital.  This  event  took  place  in  1889,  and 
four  years  later  the  school  of  medicine  was  opened.  It 
admits  women  on  equal  terms  with  men,  this  having  been 
stipulated  by  Miss  Garrett,  by  whom  large  gifts  were  made; 
women  are  not  admitted  to  either  the  school  of  philosophy 
or  the  undergraduate  department. 

An  important  place  at  Johns  Hopkins  university  has 
always  been  held  by  the  "  fellows."  Twenty  fellowships  are 
awarded  each  year  to  the  most  promising  among  the  many 
candidates,  without  preference  of  college  ;  each  fellowship  is 
of  the  annual  value  of  $500,  though  it  does  not  exempt 
from  charges  for  tuition.  The  candidates  must  prove 
their  ability  to  carry  on  independent  researches  in  the  sub- 
jects in  which  they  seek  fellowships,  and  engage  to  prose- 
cute such  researches  during  the  time  of  their  appointment. 
In  the  language  of  the  official  announcement  of  the  univer- 
sity the  fellowships  are  bestowed  "  almost  exclusively  on 
young  men  desirous  of  becoming  teachers  of  science  and 
literature,  or  proposing  to  devote  their  lives  to  special 
branches  of  learning  which  lie  outside  of  the  ordinary 
studies  of  the  lawyer,  the  physician  and  the  clergyman." 
The  university  also  extends  the  privilege  of  "  fellowships  by 
courtesy  "  (without  emolument)  to  certain  individuals. 

The  university  receives  as  students  the  following  classes  : 

1.  College  graduates  and  other  advanced  scholars,  who  may 
proceed  to  the  degree  of  doctor  of  philosophy,  in  literature 
or  science,  or  remain  for  longer  or  shorter  periods  in  such 
of  the  various  seminaries  or  laboratories  as  they  may  choose. 

2.  Undergraduate  students  looking  forward  to  the  degree 
of  bachelor  of  arts.     3.  Candidates  for  the  degree  of  doctor 


263]  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  1 3 

of  medicine.  4.  Doctors  of  medicine  desiring  to  pursue 
certain  postgraduate  courses.  5.  Students  who  have  taken 
no  degree,  and  are  not  looking  forward  to  a  degree,  but  who 
desire  to  avail  themselves  for  a  brief  period  of  the  opportu- 
nities here  offered. 

The  courses  of  study  under  i,  3  and  4  are  entirely  closed 
to  those  who  are  still  candidates  for  a  baccalaureate  degree. 

2  Bryn  Mawr  college  —  This  excellent  institution  for 
women,  modeled  closely  after  the  pattern  of  Johns  Hopkins 
university,  is  situated  at  Bryn  Mawr,  a  suburb  of  Philadel- 
phia. It  was  founded  chiefly  by  the  gifts  of  Dr.  Jos. 
W.  Taylor  and  other  members  of  the  Society  of  Friends 
{"  Quakers  "),  and  opened  in  1 885.  Four  classes  are  admitted : 
Graduates,  undergraduates,  special  students,  and  hearers ; 
the  latter,  receiving  no  formal  recognition  from  the  institu- 
tion, are  admitted  to  various  courses  by  the  consent  of  the 
instructors.  To  the  graduate  courses  only  holders  of  the 
degree  of  bachelor  of  arts  are  admitted.  These  courses 
cover  the  usual  ground  of  the  '*  faculty  of  philosophy,"  as  at 
Johns  Hopkins,  i.  e.,  philosophy,  logic  and  psychology,  lan- 
guage and  letters,  political  and  social  science,  history,  nat- 
ural science  and  mathematics,  and  lead  to  the  degrees  of 
master  of  arts  and  doctor  of  philosophy. 

From  the  first  the  standard  set  at  Bryn  Mawr  has  been 
extremely  high,  and  a  very  able  body  of  instructors  has  been 
secured.  Its  degrees  are  held  fully  equal  to  those  granted 
anywhere  in  the  United  States. 

3  University  of  Pennsylvania  —  In  1751  the  "Charitable 
School "  at  Philadelphia,  which  had  been  established  in  1 740, 
was  reconstituted,  under  the  advice  of  Franklin,  into  an 
academy,  comprising  an  English,  Latin  and  mathematical 
school.  Two  years  later  a  charter  was  granted  by  the  gover- 
nors of  the  province  of  Pennsylvania;  and  in  1755  the  insti- 
tution received  the  privilege  of  granting  degrees,  and  was 
officially  designated  as:  "The  College  and  Academy  of 
Philadelphia,  in  the  Province  of  Pennsylvania."  In  1791, 
after  several  years  of  tribulation,  a  more  recent  institution, 


14  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  [264 

founded  largely  by  spoliation  of  the  old  college,  was  united 
with  it,  under  the  name  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania. 

The  university  is  entirely  a  private  and  self-perpetuating 
corporation,  except  that  the  governor  of  the  state  is  virtute 
officii  president  of  the  trustees.  It  comprises  the  following 
teaching  divisions :  The  college,  including  the  school  of 
arts  and  the  Towne  scientific  school ;  the  department  of 
philosophy  (graduate  school)  ;  the  department  of  law  ;  the 
department  of  medicine ;  the  laboratory  of  hygiene ;  the 
department  of  dentistry ;  the  department  of  veterinary 
medicine. 

The  department  of  philosophy,  or  graduate  department,  is 
organized  to  give  advanced  instruction  in  the  various 
branches  of  literature  and  science.  Admission  is  granted  to 
persons  holding  a  "  bachelor's  degree  in  arts,  letters,  philoso- 
phy, pure  or  applied  science,  granted  by  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania  or  by  any  college  or  university  whose  degrees 
are  recognized  by  this  university."  Admission  to  the  gradu- 
ate school  does  not  imply  admission  to  candidacy  for  a 
degree.  The  courses  of  instruction  are  grouped  as  follows : 
I.  Semitic  languages.  II.  American  archaeology  and  lan- 
guages. III.  Indo-European  philology.  IV.  Classical  lan- 
guages. V.  Germanic  languages.  VI.  Romanic  languages. 
VII.  English.  VIII.  Philosophy,  ethics,  psychology  and 
pedagogy.  IX.  History.  X.  Economics,  politics,  soci- 
ology and  statistics.  XI.  Mathematics.  XII.  Astronomy. 
XIII.  Physics.  XIV.  Chemistry.  XV.  Botany  and 
zoology.     XVI.  Geology  and  minerology. 

The  principle  of  separation  between  undergraduate  and 
graduate  students  is,  with  some  few  exceptions,  strictly 
carried  out.  These  exceptions  are  found  chiefly  in  depart- 
ments which  are  not  represented  in  the  college  plan  of 
instruction  except  by  one  or  more  courses  offered  to  seniors, 
as  e,  g.  Semitic  languages  and  Sanskrit. 

In  this  group  might  also  be  placed,  with  some  reserva- 
tions, Yale  university.  The  graduate  school,  which  conducts 
the  courses  leading  to  the  degrees  of  master  of  arts  and  doctor 


265]  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  1 5 

of  philosophy,  while  accepting  as  a  rule  only  actual  gradu- 
ates of  Yale  or  other  colleges,  admits  in  exceptional  cases 
other  persons  of  liberal  education.  Some  few  of  the  higher 
undergraduate  courses  are  open  to  graduate  students,  and 
may  be  counted  toward  the  higher  degrees.  A  description 
of  the  organization  of  the  university  will  be  given  below. 

b 

By  far  the  greater  number  of  institutions  which  conduct 
"  graduate  "  work  fall  into  the  second  division  (J))  which  we 
have  established,  as  not  drawing  a  rigid  line  of  demarcation 
between  the  undergraduate  and  the  graduate  courses.  This 
does  not  mean  that  students  who  have  not  received  their  first 
or  bachelor's  degree,  or  its  equivalent,  are  accepted  as  can- 
didates for  the  master's  or  doctor's  degree,  for  to  the  writer's 
knowledge  that  is  nowhere  the  case  ;  but  merely  that  some 
at  least  of  the  courses  leading  to  the  higher  degrees  are 
open  to  undergraduate  students.  This  feature,  so  difficult 
for  foreign,  especially  German,  observers  to  understand,  is 
partly  a  necessity,  partly  the  result  of  a  deliberate  policy  which 
has  in  the  main  well  justified  itself.  The  policy  will  be  dis- 
cussed later ;  the  necessity  has  arisen  from  the  limited 
endowment  of  most  of  the  institutions,  which  has  made  it 
impossible,  even  where  it  would  have  been  desirable,  to 
increase  largely  the  number  of  professorships  and  the  extent 
of  such  educational  aids  as  libraries,  laboratories,  etc. 

The  institutions  remaining  for  our  consideration  are  most 
conveniently  divided  into  those  of  private  (or  originally  pri- 
vate) foundation  and  the  "  state  universities."  The  former 
have  generally  been  aided  at  different  times  with  greater  or 
less  liberality  by  the  governments  of  the  states  in  which  they 
are  established,  in  many  cases  a  return  having  been  demanded 
by  the  state  in  the  form  of  free  scholarships  of  one  or  another 
kind,  or  other  privileges ;  the  state  universities  have  fre- 
quently received  valuable  aid  from  private  individuals.  It 
should  be  stated  here  that  the  national  government  supports 
no  universities,  this  being  left  entirely  to  the  separate  states. 


l6  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  [266 

Institutions  of  private  foundation 
I  Harrard  university  —  The  foundation  of  this  venerable 
institution,  at  once  the  oldest,  largest  and  most  famous  seat 
of  learning  in  the  United  States,  dates  from  1636,  when  the 
general  court  of  the  colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay  voted  a 
gift  of  four  hundred  pounds  "  towards  a  school  or  college^ 
Instruction  was  not  begun  until  1638,  in  which  year  a  bequest 
of  John  Harvard,  a  non-conforming  clergyman  of  England, 
and  a  graduate  of  Emmanuel  college,  Cambridge,  who  had 
died  at  Charlestown,  became  available.  The  sum  realized 
was  sufficient  to  open  the  institution  at  once,  and  the  grati- 
tude of  the  court  was  shown  by  the  attachment  of  Harvard's 
name  to  the  new  college.  In  1642  the  management  of  the 
institution  was  entrusted  to  aboard  of  overseers;  in  1650 
the  college  was  made  a  corporation,  the  board  of  overseers 
being  also  retained.  With  considerable  changes  in  the  mode 
of  selecting  the  president  and  fellows  (who  constitute  the 
^*  corporation  ")  and  the  overseers,  this  organization  has  per- 
sisted until  the  present  day.  The  corporation  is  self-per- 
petuating ;  the  board  of  overseers,  for  a  long  period  chosen 
by  the  legislature  of  Massachusetts,  is  now  elected  entirely 
by  the  graduates  of  Harvard  college.  From  1636  until 
1782,  when  a  school  of  medicine  was  established.  Harvard 
college  composed  the  entire  institution,  conferring  only  the 
degrees  of  bachelor  and  master  of  arts.  The  term  university 
seems  to  have  been  first  applied  to  it  in  1780,  and  has  for 
many  years  been  used  of  the  institution  as  a  whole,  of  which 
Harvard  college  is  by  statute  merely  a  part.  The  legal  titles 
of  the  controlling  bodies  are,  however,  "  The  President  and 
Fellows,  and  the  Board  of  Overseers,  of  Harvard  College." 
The  various  departments  of  the  university,  added  from  time 
to  time,  have  been  largely  reorganized  during  the  last  ten 
years.  The  present  organization  of  the  departments  of 
instruction  is  briefly  as  follows  : 

I-III    Three   schools    under   the   faculty   of   arts   and 
sciences,  viz. : 


267]  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  1 7 

I  Harvard  college,  leading  to  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  arts. 

II  The  Lawrence  scientific  school  (degree  of  bachelor  of 
science). 

III  The  graduate  school  (degrees  of  master  of  arts,  mas- 
ter of  science,  doctor  of  philosophy  and  doctor  of  science). 

IV  The  divinity  school  (degree  of  bachelor  of  divinity). 

V  The  law  school  (degree  of  bachelor  of  laws). 

VI  The  medical  school  (degree  of  doctor  of  medicine). 

VII  The   dental    school    (degree   of   doctor   of    dental 
medicine). 

VIII  The  school  of  veterinary  medicine  (degree  of  doc- 
tor of  veterinary  medicine). 

IX  The  Bussey  institution  (degree  of  bachelor  of  agri- 
cultural science). 

Of  these  the  graduate  school  corresponds  very  closely  in 
range  and  methods  of  instruction  to  the  philosophische  Fak- 
ult'dt  of  the  universities  of  Northern  Germany,  offering 
courses  of  research  in  philology  (Semitic  languages,  Indo- 
Iranian,  the  classics  (including  Greek  and  Roman  archae- 
ology), English,  Germanic  and  Scandinavian,  Romance 
languages,  Celtic,  Slavonic,  history  and  political  science, 
philosophy  (including  ethics  and  psychology),  fine  arts, 
music,  mathematics,  astronomy,  physics,  chemistry,  botany, 
zoology,  geology,  mineralogy,  American  archaeology  and 
ethnology,  physiology.  Admission  to  the  graduate  school 
is  ordinarily  granted  to  graduates  of  colleges  and  scientific 
schools  of  good  standing.  This  does  not,  however,  imply 
admission  to  candidacy  for  a  degree  ;  such  is  granted  only  to 
those  whose  credentials  are  approved  by  the  committee  on 
admission  from  other  colleges,  which  satisfies  itself  that  the 
applicant  has  had  a  training  substantially  equivalent  to  that 
demanded  for  the  Harvard  bachelor's  degree.  It  frequently 
happens  that  such  applicants  spend  a  year  in  study  for  the 
Harvard  degree  of  bachelor  of  arts,  after  which  they  may 
or  may  not  go  on  to  the  higher  degrees. 

The  courses  offered  under  the  faculty  of  arts  and  sciences 
are  of  three  kinds : 


1 8  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  [268 

(i)  Primarily  for  undergraduates.  These,  though  often 
open  to  graduates,  may  be  counted  only  toward  the  bach- 
elor's degree. 

(2)  For  undergraduates  and  graduates.  These  may  be 
counted  toward  either  the  bachelor's,  or  toward  the  master's 
and  doctor's  degrees ;  they  are  attended  chiefly  by  under- 
graduates in  their  last,  or  graduates  in  their  first,  year  of 
study  as  such. 

(3)  Primarily  for  graduates.  These  courses  are  attended 
only  by  such  undergraduates  as  have  made  unusual  progress 
in  their  studies,  and  some  of  them  are  entirely  closed  to 
undergraduates. 

The  school  of  law,  with  a  course  of  three  years,  admits  to 
full  standing  as  candidates  for  the  degree  holders  of  a  bach- 
elor's degree  in  arts,  literature,  philosophy  or  science  granted 
by  certain  institutions  named  in  the  university  catalogue, 
also  persons  qualified  to  enter  the  senior  class  of  Harvard 
college.  In  the  main  it  may  be  called  a  true  graduate 
school,  as  out  of  551  students  enrolled  in  1898-9,  489  held 
the  bachelor's  degree.  This  is  true,  in  a  minor  degree,  of 
the  school  of  divinity,  in  which  candidates  for  the  degree  of 
bachelor  of  divinity  must  have  a  satisfactory  degree  in  arts 
or  an  equivalent  approved  by  the  faculty.  The  medical 
school,  which  at  present  prescribes  a  moderate  examination 
for  entering  students,  will  soon  be  put  on  a  true  university 
basis  by  the  requirement  that  in  and  after  June,  1901,  can- 
didates for  admission  must  present  a  degree  in  arts,  litera- 
ture, philosophy,  science,  or  medicine  from  a  recognized 
college  or  scientific  school ;  from  this  rule  exceptions  are  to 
be  made  only  by  special  vote  of  the  faculty  in  each  case. 

2  Yale  university,  New  Haven,  Conn. —  In  1701  there  was 
founded  at  Saybrook  the  Collegiate  School  of  Connecticut, 
which  was  transferred  to  New  Haven  in  1 716,  and  in  1718 
renamed  Yale  college,  in  recognition  of  the  gifts  made  to 
the  young  institution  by  Elihu  Yale  of  London.  The 
degree  of  bachelor  of  arts,  first  awarded  in  1 702,  was  the 
only  one  given  until  18 14.     In  the  latter  year  the  degree  of 


269]  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  1 9 

doctor  of  medicine  was  first  bestowed,  that  of  bachelor  of 
laws  in  1843,  <ioctor  of  philosophy  in  i860,  and  civil  engi- 
neer and  bachelor  of  divinity  in  1867.  The  name  Yale  col- 
lege was  retained  by  the  entire  institution  until  compara- 
tively recent  years. 

The  present  organization  shows  four  departments  :  I  Phil- 
osophy and  the  arts  ;  II  Theology;  III  Medicine;  IV  Law. 

The  department  of  philosophy  and  the  arts  includes  Yale 
college  (for  some  years  called  the  "  academical  depart- 
ment "),  the  Sheffield  scientific  school,  the  graduate  school, 
and  the  schools  of  fine  arts  and  music.  The  graduate 
school,  in  its  reorganized  form,  corresponds  quite  closely  to 
that  of  Harvard  university  and  to  the  Qttxvc\.2in  philosophische 
Fakultat,  but  differs  from  the  latter  in  including  advanced 
technical  instruction  in  civil  and  mechanical  engineering. 
It  offers  the  degrees  of  master  of  arts,  master  of  science, 
doctor  of  philosophy,  civil  engineer,  and  mechanical  engi- 
neer. Admission  is  granted  to  graduates  of  Yale  and  of 
other  colleges  and  universities,  and  (in  exceptional  cases)  to 
other  persons  of  liberal  education,  at  least  eighteen  years 
old.  The  departments  of  study  are  these :  Psychology, 
ethics  and  philosophy ;  economics,  social  science,  history 
and  law  ;  Semitic  languages  and  biblical  literature  ;  classical 
and  Indo-Iranian  philology ;  modern  languages  and  litera- 
tures ;  natural  and  physical  science  ;  pure  and  applied  mathe- 
matics ;  the  fine  arts;  music;  physical  culture.  Out  of  257 
students  registered  as  in  actual  attendance  upon  the  courses 
of  the  graduate  school  in  1898-9  only  8  were  not  holders  of 
degrees,  and  of  these  6  had  received  academic  training 
in  Japan.  Some  of  the  courses  designed  for  advanced 
undergraduates  in  Yale  college  or  the  Sheffield  scientific 
school  are  open  to  graduates,  and  may  be  counted  toward 
the  higher  degrees.  The  schools  of  theology,  medicine  and 
law  do  not  demand  the  possession  of  a  degree  as  a  condition 
of  entrance,  though  this  is  practically  recommended. 

3  Columbia  university,  New  York  —  In  1754  there  was 
founded  in  the  city  of  New  York,  under  royal  charter  of 


20  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  [270 

George  II,  an  institution  for  the  education  of  youth,  to 
which  the  name  Kings  college  was  given.  The  college 
existed  under  this  name  until  1784,  though  the  exercises 
were  partially,  at  times  wholly,  suspended  during  the  war 
of  the  revolution.  In  1784,  on  the  incorporation  of  the 
"  Regents  of  the  University  of  the  State  of  New  York," 
the  property  of  Kings  college  was  vested  in  them,  and  its 
name  changed  to  Columbia  college.  In  1787,  however,  this 
act  was  repealed,  and  the  original  charter  issued  to  the  col- 
lege was  confirmed.  The  legal  style  of  the  new  corporation 
was  fixed  as  "  The  Trustees  of  Columbia  College  in  the 
City  of  New  York."  This  is  still  its  legal  designation.  In 
1896  the  board  of  trustees  sanctioned  the  use  in  all  official 
publications  of  the  term  Columbia  University  in  the  City  of 
New  York ;  the  name  Columbia  college  has  accordingly 
been  restricted  to  its  original  sense,  viz.,  the  college  proper, 
exclusive  of  the  professional  and  graduate  schools.  It  had 
been  for  some  years  customary  to  speak  of  this  as  the  school 
of  arts,  to  distinguish  it  from  the  schools  of  law,  medicine 
and  mines.  The  school  of  medicine  (which  bears  also  the 
title  college  of  physicians  and  surgeons)  was  founded  in 
1807,  the  school  of  law  in  1858,  the  school  of  mines  in  1864 ; 
from  the  latter  were  set  off  in  1896  the  schools  of  chemistry, 
engineering  and  architecture.  Affiliated  with  Columbia 
university  are  Barnard  college,  founded  in  1889,  and  Teachers 
college,  founded  in  1888.  The  former  offers  to  women 
undergraduates  courses  identical  with  those  given  in  Colum- 
bia college,  while  its  graduate  students  are  admitted  to  the 
work  of  the  faculties  of  philosophy,  political  science  and  pure 
science  in  Columbia  university ;  the  latter  is  devoted  to  the 
special  training  of  teachers,  men  and  women  alike,  and  certain 
of  its  courses  are  accepted  by  Columbia  as  part  of  the  work 
required  for  its  degrees,  both  baccalaureate  and  advanced. 
The  organization  of  Columbia  university,  excluding  Bar- 
nard and  Teachers  colleges,  is  as  follows : 

I  Columbia  college. 

II  The  university,  including 


271]  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  21 

A.   The  non-professional  schools 

1  Faculty  of  philosophy,  which  offers  advanced  courses 
and  opportunities  for  original  research  in  philosophy  and 
education,  psychology,  Greek  and  Latin  (induing  archae- 
ology and  epigraphy),  English,  literature,  music,  and  the 
Germanic,  Romance  and  oriental  languages. 

2  Faculty  of  political  science,  giving  similar  instruction 
in  political  and  social  science,  including  history,  economics 
and  public  law. 

3  Faculty  of  pure  science,  for  mathematics  and  the  vari- 
ous branches  of  natural  science. 

4  Faculty  of  applied  science,  covering  mining,  metal- 
lurgy, engineering  and  architecture. 

B.   The  professional  schools 
These  are 

1  School  of  medicine,  or  college  of  physicians  and  sur- 
geons, with  a  four  years'  course  leading  to  the  degree  of 
doctor  of  medicine. 

2  School  of  law,  with  a  three  years'  course  leading  to  the 
degree  of  bachelor  of  laws. 

3  Schools  of  mines,  chemistry,  engineering  and  architec- 
ture, which  are  under  the  charge  of  the  faculty  of  applied 
science,  and  offer  courses,  each  of  four  years,  leading  to  the 
appropriate  technical  degrees  (bachelor  of  philosophy,  engi- 
neer of  mines,  civil  engineer,  etc.). 

Applying  the  test  hitherto  used,  we  find  that  the  non-pro- 
fessional schools,  which  award  the  degrees  of  master  of  arts 
and  doctor  of  philosophy,  exact  as  the  condition  of  admis- 
sion to  candidacy  for  a  degree  the  possession  of  a  bacca- 
laureate or  equivalent  degree.  Their  organization  as  three 
faculties  (or  four)  instead  of  one  is  modelled  largely  after 
those  South  German  universities  which  have  subdivided  the 
ancient  faculty  of  philosophy  into  two  or  more  parts.  The 
professional  faculties  do  not  as  yet  demand  the  possession  of 
a  degree  of  entering  students ;  but  the  faculty  of  law  has 


22  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  [2/2 

announced  that  in  and  after  1903  the  bachelor's  degree  in 
arts  or  philosophy  will  be  required  of  all  candidates  for 
admission  to  full  standing.  (In  1898-9,  out  of  348  pri- 
marily registered  under  the  faculty  of  law,  216  held  degrees.) 

A  peculiarity  of  the  Columbia  organization  is  the  system 
by  which  seniors  in  Columbia  college,  who  have  entered  the 
college  not  later  than  the  beginning  of  the  junior  year,  are 
allowed  to  select  part  or  all  of  the  courses  necessary  for  the 
bachelor's  degree  from  among  those  designated  by  the 
"  university "  faculties,  professional  or  non-professional,  as 
open  to  them.  Naturally  only  the  introductory  courses,  or 
those  of  more  general  bearing,  are  so  offered  by  these  facul- 
ties. The  object  of  this  arrangement  is  to  shorten  the  time 
necessary  to  the  attainment  of  the  higher,  particularly  of  the 
professional,  degrees.  With  the  establishment  of  the  four 
years'  course  in  medicine,  and  the  higher  standards  set  by 
all  the  faculties,  it  was  found  that  those  who  finished  their 
college  course  before  entering  on  professional  studies  could 
rarely  secure  the  professional  degree  before  reaching  their 
twenty-fifth  year,  and  it  was  believed  that  while  good  stu- 
dents should  be  ready  to  begin  professional  work  after  com- 
pleting their  third  year  in  college,  yet  the  bachelor's  degree 
should  not  be  cheapened  by  awarding  it  for  less  than  four 
years  of  collegiate  study.  On  the  whole  the  plan  has 
worked  well,  though  some  complaints  are  made  of  the  diffi- 
culty of  carrying  on  graduate  courses  to  which  undergradu- 
ates, often  necessarily  of  a  lower  grade  of  preparation,  are 
admitted.  In  many  cases  courses  thus  open  to  undergradu- 
ates and  graduates  alike  may  not  be  counted  toward  the 
higher  degrees  unless  additional  work  be  done  in  connection 
with  them. 

4  Cornell  university,  Ithaca,  N.  Y. —  Cornell  university  occu- 
pies a  middle  ground  between  the  institutions  of  private  (or 
chiefly  private)  foundation  and  independent  corporate  exist- 
ence and  the  state  universities  to  be  described  below.  Its 
foundation  was  chiefly  due  to  the  generosity  and  strenuous 
efforts  of  Ezra  Cornell,  and  it  possesses  corporate  independ- 


273]  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY.  23 

ence  ;  out  tne  government  of  the  state  of  New  York  is  rep- 
resented by  ex-officio  members  on  the  board  of  trustees,  and 
the  funds  for  its  establishment,  other  than  those  given  by 
Mr.  Cornell  and  other  benefactors,  were  derived  from  the 
sale  of  the  grants  of  public  lands  made  to  the  state  of  New 
York  by  the  "  Morrill  Act"  of  the  national  congress  in  1862. 
Mr.  Cornell's  plan  designed  the  establishment  of  an  institu- 
tion **  where  any  person  might  find  instruction  in  any  study  ; " 
and  if  this  has  long  since  been  seen  to  be  impossible  of  reali- 
zation, yet  the  very  breadth  of  sympathy  evidenced  by  the 
desire  has  resulted  in  a  foundation  of  unusual  breadth  and 
strength.  The  university  was  incorporated  in  1865,  and 
opened  to  students  in  1868.  Its  constitution  has  undergone 
many  changes,  as  well  of  internal  arrangement  as  of  outward 
expansion  ;  its  present  organization  is  the  following  : 

I   Graduate  department. 

II  Academic  department,  or  department  of  arts  and 
sciences. 

III  College  of  law. 

IV  College  of  civil  engineering, 

V  Sibley  college  of  mechanical  arts. 
VI  College  of  architecture. 
VII  College  of  agriculture. 
VIII  College  of  medicine. 

The  New  York  state  veterinary  college  and  college  of 
forestry  are  administered  by  Cornell  university.  The  col- 
lege of  medicine,  constituted  in  1897-8  from  the  faculties  of 
two  medical  schools  already  existing  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  is  situated  in  that  city,  though  the  work  of  the  first 
two  years  may  be  done  in  Ithaca. 

The  graduate  department  provides  courses  of  instruction 
and  research  for  graduate  students  leading  to  advanced 
degrees.  No  sharp  line  is  drawn  between  graduates  and 
undergraduate  students,  many  of  the  courses  being  open  to 
undergraduates  who  have  prepared  themselves  by  taking 
the  necessary  preliminary  elective  courses,  but  a  large  num- 


24  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  [274 

ber  are  specially  adapted  to  the  wants  of  graduate  students, 
and  some  are  open  exclusively  to  them.  The  degrees  offered 
to  graduate  students  are  :  Master  of  arts,  master  of  science 
in  architecture,  master  of  civil  engineering,  master  of  mechan- 
ical engineering,  master  of  science  in  agriculture,  and  doctor 
of  philosophy. 

Seniors  and  juniors  in  the  academic  department  are 
allowed,  with  certain  restrictions,  to  elect  studies  in  other 
departments  of  the  university  which  shall  count  towards 
graduation  in  the  academic  department.  The  Columbia 
principle  is  thus  applied  more  widely. 

The  schools  of  law  and  medicine  have  not  as  yet  made 
the  possession  of  a  first  degree  a  necessary  condition  of 
admission. 

The  exigencies  of  space  forbid  the  description  here  of 
several  of  the  prominent  autonomous  corporative  institutions 
which  include  true  university  instruction  in  their  work,  such 
as  Brown  university  at  Providence,  R.  I.,  Princeton  univer- 
sity in  New  Jersey,  the  Leland  Stanford,  Jr.,  university  at 
Palo  Alto,  Cal.,  the  Tulane  university  of  Louisiana,  the 
Vanderbilt  university  at  Nashville,  Tenn.,  and  others.  All 
comprise  the  college  and  the  various  scientific  schools.  We 
turn,  therefore,  to  the  most  recently  founded  of  the  larger 
institutions,  one  which  has  taken  at  a  bound  a  place  in  the 
very  front  rank  of  American  education. 

5  The  university  of  Chicago  —  The  history  of  the  university 
of  Chicago  begins  with  the  year  1886,  when  Mr.  J.  D.  Rocke- 
feller formed  the  idea  of  founding  a  new  institution  of  learn- 
ing in  Chicago.  By  a  series  of  extraordinarily  munificent 
gifts,  made  by  Mr.  Rockefeller  and  others,  the  establishment 
of  the  new  institution  was  assured ;  the  first  buildings  were 
erected  in  1891,  and  the  doors  opened  to  students  October 
I,  1892.  The  organization  is  complicated,  and  in  many 
respects  unlike  that  of  any  other  American  university.  An 
entirely  original  feature  is  the  division  of  the  academic  year 
into  four  quarters  of  twelve  weeks  each,  instead  of  two  or 
three  terms.     Instruction   is  given  during  the  whole  year, 


275]  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  25 

except  during  the  interval  of  one  week  at  the  end  of  each 
quarter  ;  students  remain  for  one  or  more  quarters  as  they 
chose,  and  each  instructor  is  bound  to  teach  during  thirty- 
six  weeks  of  the  year,  with  certain  bounties  for  additional 
instruction  given  beyond  this  requirement.  The  university 
is  organized  in  five  distinct  divisions :  I  The  schools,  col- 
leges and  academies  ;  II  The  university  extension  ;  III  The 
university  library,  laboratories  and  museums ;  IV  The  uni- 
versity press  ;  V  The  university  affiliation.  The  first  divis- 
ion, comprising  the  whole  teaching  staff  of  the  university 
proper,  consists  of  i  The  schools ;  a  Graduate  schools  ; 
b  Professional  schools.  2  The  colleges ;  a  Junior  college, 
corresponding  to  the  first  two  years ;  b  Senior  college,  cor- 
responding to  the  last  two  years  of  the  ordinary  college. 

The  graduate  schools  thus  far  organized  are  two,  the 
graduate  school  of  arts  and  literature,  and  the  Ogden  (grad- 
uate) school  of  science.  Admission  is  granted  (i)  to  those 
who  have  been  graduated  from  the  colleges  of  the  univer- 
sity of  Chicago  with  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  arts,  science 
or  philosophy ;  (2)  to  graduates  of  other  institutions  of 
good  standing,  holding  degrees  corresponding  to  those 
granted  by  the  university.  The  degrees  conferred  are  :  Mas- 
ter of  arts,  master  of  science,  master  of  philosophy,  and 
doctor  of  philosophy.  Most  of  the  courses  in  the  graduate 
schools  are  open  to  graduate  students  only,  but  some  are 
9pen  to  students  in  the  senior  college  who  have  received  the 
preliminary  training  enabling  them  to  profit  by  these  courses. 
The  divinity  school  includes,  a  the  graduate  divinity  school, 
designed  primarily  for  college  graduates;  b  the  English 
theological  seminary,  with  resident  courses  only  in  the  sum- 
mer quarter ;  c  and  d  the  Scandinavian  theological  semi- 
naries. The  graduate  divinity  school  admits  to  candidacy 
for  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  divinity  only  graduates  of 
accepted  colleges ;  the  degrees  of  master  of  arts  and  doctor 
of  philosophy  are  also  offered. 


26  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  [276 

The  state  universities 
At  the  present  time,  in  each  of  twenty-nine  of  the  states 
of  the  union,  there  is  maintained  a  single  "  state  university," 
supported  exclusively  or  prevailingly  from  public  funds,  and 
managed  under  the  more  or  less  direct  control  of  the  legis- 
lature and  administrative  officers  of  the  state.  In  some 
cases  private  benefactions  have  notably  supplemented  the 
support  given  from  public  revenues.  These  states  are  the 
following :  Alabama,  California,  Colorado,  Georgia,  Illi- 
nois, Indiana,  Iowa,  Kansas,  Louisiana,  Maine,  Michigan, 
Minnesota,  Mississippi,  Missouri,  Nebraska,  Nevada,  North 
Carolina,  North  Dakota,  Ohio,  Oregon,  South  Carolina, 
South  Dakota,  Tennessee,  Texas,  Virginia,  Washington, 
West  Virginia,  Wisconsin,  Wyoming.'  The  organization 
of  these  institutions,  while  more  similar  than  that  of  the 
universities  which  are  autonomous  corporations,  yet  shows 
many  points  of  divergence ;  and  their  extent  and  stand- 
ards of  scholarship  vary  even  more  widely.  The  larger 
among  them  exhibit  a  very  complete  development  of 
technical  and  professional  schools,  with  the  exception  of 
schools  of  theology,  which  naturally  have  no  place  in  a 
country  where  state  aid  is  not  extended  to  religion.  The 
professional  schools  of  law  and  medicine,  however,  are 
generally  supported,  at  least  in  greater  part,  by  the  fees 
received  from  students,  and  up  to  the  present  time  nene 
of  them  has  been  put  on  a  true  university  basis.  Other- 
wise, the  sources  of  income  of  these  universities  are  mainly 
the  following:  i  The  proceeds  of  land-grants  made  in  1862 
by  the  federal  government,  in  accordance  with  the  famous 
"Morrill  Act"  of  1862,  for  the  maintenances  of  colleges 
whose  leading  object  should  be  instruction  in  those  branches 
of  learning  relating  to  agricultural  and  mechanical  arts, 
including  military  tactics,  and  not  excluding  other  scientific 

'  The  university  of  the  state  of  New  York  is  not  a  university  at  all,  but  rather 
a  state  board  of  education,  with  supervision  of  all  instruction  given  in  the  state. 
The  "  University  of  France,"  as  constituted  under  Napoleon  I,  is  closely  analo- 
gous to  it. 


2  77]  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  2/ 

and  classical  studies ;  2  State  taxation,  whether  by  way  of 
annual  appropriations  from  the  general  taxes  of  the  state,  or 
by  continuous  appropriations  from  a  permanent  special  tax  ; 

3  Tuition  fees  (only  in  some  of  the  universities,  while  in 
many  instruction  is  entirely  gratuitous)  ;  4  Private  gifts  and 
endowments  —  the  least  common  source  of  revenue,  although 
some  brilliant  exceptions  are  to  be  noted. 

The  universal  verdict  of  public  opinion,  in  the  states 
where  such  institutions  are  maintained,  is  that  they,  as  state 
organizations  supported  directly  by  public  taxation  from 
which  no  taxable  individual  is  exempt,  should  be  open  with- 
out distinction  of  sex,  color  or  religion  to  all  who  can  profit 
by  the  instruction  therein  given.  Each  forms  the  uppermost 
division  of  the  general  system  of  public  education  of  the 
state  in  which  it  is  maintained,  and  is  managed  with  a  view 
to  completing  the  scheme  of  instruction  begun  in  the  pri- 
mary and  carried  on  in  the  secondary  schools.  Control  is 
vested  in  a  board  of  public  officials,  generally  called 
"regents."  For  example,  the  board  of  regents  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Minnesota  consists  of  the  governor  of  the  state, 
the  superintendent  of  public  instruction,  the  president  of  the 
university,  and  seven  members  appointed  by  the  governor 
and  confirmed  by  the  senate.  In  Michigan  the  regents  are 
elected  by  popular  vote  for  terms  of  eight  years  —  an 
unusual  feature.  The  composition  and  mode  of  choice  of 
these  boards  varies  greatly  in  different  states,  and  not  less 
their  fitness  for  the  responsibilities  entrusted  to  them.  In 
some  states,  as  in  Michigan  and  Wisconsin,  the  result  of 
many  years'  endeavor  has  been,  though  after  many  vicissi- 
tudes and  bitter  struggles,  the  creation  of  noble  schools  of 
training ;  in  others  the  constant  changes  in  political  com- 
plexion of  the  legislature,  and  the  self-seeking  of  party  lead- 
ers, have  made  the  universities  mere  shuttlecocks  of  public 
or  party  opinion,  and  not  only  has  their  development  been 
hindered,  but  in  some  cases  their  usefulness  deliberately 
crippled.  Instances  are  not  unknown  where  particularly 
able  and   courageous  professors,  who  would  not  cut  their 


28  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  [278 

scientific  opinions  after  the  prevailing  fashion  in  politics, 
have  been  driven  from  their  chairs,  even  by  outrageously 
underhanded  methods. 

Of  the  state  universities  the  most  prominent  and  success- 
ful are  those  of  Michigan,  Minnesota,  Wisconsin,  and  Cali- 
fornia. The  first  mentioned  is  the  oldest  and  perhaps  the 
best  known.  Under  the  direction  of  a  series  of  singularly 
able  men  it  has  grown,  since  its  foundation  in  1837,  into  a 
position  of  commanding  importance.  The  three  others, 
while  considerably  younger,  have  shown  a  surprisingly  rapid 
growth.  As  examples  of  the  organization  of  state  universi- 
ties will  be  taken  Wisconsin  and  California. 

The  University  of  Wisconsin,  Madison,  Wis. —  When  the 
state  of  Wisconsin  was  organized  in  1848,  the  university  was 
established  by  constitution  as  a  part  of  the  free  school  sys- 
tem of  the  state.  The  law  establishing  it  declares  that  its 
object  shall  be  "to  provide  the  means  of  acquiring  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  the  various  branches  of  learning 
connected  with  scientific,  industrial  and  professional  pur- 
suits." The  institution  was  reorganized  in  1866,  when  the 
college  of  agriculture  was  united  with  it ;  and  the  profes- 
sional and  technical  schools  were  added  in  rapid  succession. 

The  university  comprises  six  divisions  : 

I  College  of  letters  and  science,  with  seven  different 
undergraduate  courses  leading  to  baccalaureate  degrees. 
The  corresponding  graduate  courses  lead  to  the  higher 
degrees  of  master  of  arts,  literature  or  science,  and  doctor  of 
philosophy.  These  graduate  courses  include  philosophy, 
pedagogy,  economic  and  social  science,  history,  philology, 
mathematics,  natural  sciences. 

II  College  of  mechanics  and  engineering;  the  under- 
graduate courses  lead  to  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  science, 
and  graduate  courses  to  those  of  civil,  mechanical,  or  electri- 
cal engineer. 

III  College  of  agriculture,  with  three  different  courses, 
one  leading  to  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  science,  and  a 
course  for  graduates,  to  the  degree  of  master  of  science. 


279]  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  29 

IV  College  of  law,  with  a  three  years'  course,  leading  to 
the  degree  of  bachelor  of  laws. 

V  School  of  pharmacy. 

VI  School  of  music. 

The  school  of  economics,  political  science  and  history  and 
the  school  of  education  are  subdivisions  of  the  college  of 
letters  and  science  ;  their  work  extends  over  the  later  portion 
of  the  undergraduate,  and  through  the  graduate,  depart- 
ments. The  line  between  advanced  undergraduates  and 
graduate  students  is  not  sharply  drawn,  some  courses  being 
open  to  both  classes  of  students. 

The  University  of  California,  Berkeley  and  San  Francisco, 
Cal. —  The  University  of  California,  an  integral  part  of  the 
public  educational  system  of  the  state,  was  established  in 
1868,  and  instruction  was  begun  the  following  year.  The 
college  of  California,  which  had  been  organized  in  1855, 
transferred  its  property  and  students  to  the  new  institution 
in  1869,  and  closed  its  own  work  of  instruction.  The  pro- 
fessional schools,  though  contemplated  in  the  original  plan, 
were  not  actually  organized  until  later.  In  June,  1888,  the 
Lick  observatory  at  Mount  Hamilton  became  a  part  of  the 
university. 

The  controlling  body  is  unusually  large,  consisting  of  the 
governor  and  lieutenant-governor  of  the  state,  the  speaker 
of  the  assembly,  the  state  superintendent  of  public  instruc- 
tion, the  presidents  of  the  state  agricultural  society  and  the 
mechanics'  institute  of  San  Francisco,  and  the  president  of 
the  university  (all  these  ex-officid),  and  sixteen  other  regents 
appointed  by  the  governor  with  the  approval  of  the  state 
senate. 

The  institution  is  supported  by  various  state  funds ;  the 
college  of  law  has  a  special  endowment ;  the  other  profes- 
sional schools  are  supported  by  tuition-fees. 

In  1898  gifts  amounting  to  many  millions  of  dollars  were 
made  to  the  institution  by  Mrs.  Phoebe  Hearst,  which  will 
make  possible  the  development  of  the  university  on  a  scale 
hitherto  unexampled  in  America. 


30  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  [280 

The  organization  of  the  university  comprises  the  follow- 
ing departments  of  instruction : 

I  In  Berkeley : 

A  The  colleges  of  general  culture :  Letters  (with  degree 
of  bachelor  of  arts),  social  science  (bachelor  of  letters), 
natural  sciences  (bachelor  of  science),  commerce  (degree 
not  yet  established). 

B  The  colleges  of  applied  science,  leading  to  the  degree 
of  bachelor  of  sciehce. 

II  At  Mt.  Hamilton: 

The  Lick  astronomical  department  (observatory). 

III  In  San  Francisco: 

I  The  Mark  Hopkins  institute  of  art.  2  The  Hastings 
college  of  the  law.  3  The  medical  department.  4  The 
post-graduate  medical  department.  5  The  college  of  dent- 
istry. 6  The  California  college  of  pharmacy.  7  The  vet- 
erinary department. 

In  the  graduate  department,  regularly  organized  courses 
of  instruction  and  research  lead  to  the  degrees  of  master  of 
arts,  literature  or  science,  and  doctor  of  philosophy.  These 
courses  comprise  instruction  in  philosophy  and  education, 
history  and  political  science,  philology,  decorative  and  indus- 
trial art,  mathematics  and  natural  science,  engineering  and 
agriculture.  They  are  classified  as  :  i  Primarily  for  gradu- 
ates ;  2  for  graduates  and  advanced  undergraduates. 

Contrast  with  European  universities 

The  foregoing  account  of  the  chief  types  of  university 
organization  in  the  United  States  will,  it  is  hoped,  have 
made  clear  most  of  the  details  in  which  their  structure  is 
peculiarly  American.  The  older  institutions,  starting  from 
the  English  type  of  college,  never  developed  in  the  direction 
of  universities  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  where  the  idea  of 
the  university  as  a  great  teaching  body  was  lost  in  the 
excessive  development  of  the  college  as  a  place  of  residence, 
and  of  the  university  as  primarily  a  congeries  of  colleges. 


28 1]  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  3 1 

The  early  medieval  universities  of  Europe,  on  the  continent 
as  well  as  in  England,  generally  provided  for  their  students 
places  of  residence  in  buildings  set  apart  for  this  purpose, 
instruction  of  the  lower  grades  in  connection  with  these 
residence  halls,  and  higher  instruction  independently  of  them. 
On  the  continent,  however,  especially  in  France  and  Ger- 
many, the  residential  feature  rapidly  became  less  important, 
and  finally,  with  a  few  unimportant  exceptions,  disappeared 
altogether,  so  that  the  entire  resources  of  the  universities, 
though  often  scanty  enough,  could  be  turned  to  account  for 
the  work  of  instruction.  In  England  exactly  the  opposite 
occurred ;  the  residential  halls  became,  through  the  impulse 
of  successive  pious  foundations,  the  important  factors  in  the 
university  life,  even  attaining  corporate  independence  and 
ultimately  great  wealth,  and  gradually  assumed  most  of  the 
instruction  of  the  students,  though  the  examinations  and 
the  award  of  degrees  remained  the  prerogatives  of  the  uni- 
versity as  a  whole  —  conditions  which  made  directly  for  the 
fixity  of  residence  characteristic  of  English  universities,  and 
adopted  as  a  matter  of  course  in  the  American  colleges  pat- 
terned after  the  English  model.  If  the  establishment  of 
Harvard  and  Yale  colleges  had  been  followed  at  brief  inter- 
vals of  time  by  the  foundation  of  other  residential  colleges 
in  Cambridge  and  New  Haven,  and  if  there  had  existed  in 
the  colonies  an  established  church  with  a  prestige  such  as 
that  possessed  by  the  church  of  England  in  the  home  coun- 
try, keeping  the  colleges  under  its  control,  a  state  of  affairs 
similar  to  that  at  Oxford  would  doubtless  have  resulted. 
The  scanty  population  and  limited  means  of  the  colonies, 
and  their  independence  of  the  church  of  England,  prevented 
such  a  result,  fortunately,  on  the  whole,  for  the  educational 
welfare  of  the  country  at  large.'  Yet  the  residential  feature 
has  persisted  throughout  the  history  of  the  American  col- 
lege ;  though  abandoned  here  and  there,  as  at  Columbia  and 

'  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  during  the  last  few  years  the  rapid  growth  of 
Harvard  college,  which  had  1,851  undergraduate  students  in  attendance  during 
1898-g,  led  to  a  suggestion  that  it  be  divided  somewhat  on  the  English  plan  into 
three  or  four  separate  colleges,  a  plan  which  met  with  little  favor. 


32  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  [282 

the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  it  has  been  restored  at  the 
latter,  has  again  been  adopted  in  principle,  if  not  yet  in 
practice,  at  Columbia,  and  deliberately  introduced,  in  various 
forms,  at  many  new  institutions,  even  in  some  which  at  first 
had  made  no  provision  for  students'  residence.  The  Ameri- 
can institutions  differ  furthermore  from  the  English  universi- 
ties in  this,  that  their  growth  has  been  so  largely  in  the 
direction  of  professional  and  technical  schools,  though  these 
have  been  thus  far  in  less  than  a  half  a  dozen  instances 
placed  on  a  real  university  basis. 

The  points  of  difference  between  the  American  and  the 
continental  European  universities  are  not  less  apparent. 
Taken  as  a  whole,  the  American  institutions  exhibit  only  a 
portion  of  what  in  Europe  is  thought  necessary  to  the  con- 
stitution of  a  complete  university,  viz.,  the  traditional  four 
faculties  of  theology,  law,  medicine  and  philosophy,  because, 
although  all  four  may  be  in  existence  (as  for  example  at 
Harvard),  they  are  not  all  organized  and  administered  on 
the  same  plane  ;  but  on  the  other  hand  they  include  elements 
which  in  Europe  are  sharply  marked  off  from  the  universi- 
ties, namely,  technical  schools,  and  undergraduate  schools 
which  in  some  cases  correspond  fairly  well  to  the  lycee  or 
gymnasium  of  France  or  Germany,  in  others  to  the  last  two 
or  three  years  of  these  institutions  and  the  first  year  of  the 
university  or  technical  school.  If  we  separate  the  strictly 
graduate  schools  of  the  American  universities  from  the 
remainder  of  their  respective  institutions,  we  shall  find  them 
in  general  covering  pretty  nearly  the  ground  of  the  "  philo- 
sophical faculties"  of  Germany,  and  more  or  less  closely 
approximating  them  in  methods  of  work.  A  decided  point 
of  difference,  however,  consists  in  the  comparative  infre- 
quence  of  migration  on  the  part  of  students  from  university 
to  university,  which  is  so  nearly  the  universal  rule  in 
Germany. 


283]  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  33 


III  EARLIEST  BEGINNINGS  OF  UNIVERSITY  OR  GRADUATE 
INSTRUCTION.  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  OUT 
OF  THE  COLLEGE.  INFLUENCE  OF  GERMAN  MODELS  AND 
METHODS 

The  cataloges  of  Harvard  college  contain,  somewhat 
before  1800,  the  names  of  individuals  enrolled  as  "resident 
graduates,"  though  no  statement  is  made  of  the  advantages 
offered  them  or  the  work  expected  of  them.  This  continues 
for  many  years,  the  numbers  of  the  graduate  students  vary- 
ing greatly;  e. g.,  in  181 1  are  entered  twelve  such;  in  1825, 
one;  in  1833,  nine;  in  1837,  one;  in  1845,  ^51  ^^  1850, 
three;  in  1855,  six;  in  i860,  nine.  During  the  early  years 
of  the  19th  century  Americans  began  to  seek  out  the  uni- 
versities of  Germany.  The  first  American  to  be  graduated 
at  a  German  university  was  Edward  Everett,  who  was  made 
a  doctor  of  philosophy  of  Gottingen  in  181 7.  He  was  fol- 
lowed in  1 819  by  Joseph  Green  Cogswell,  by  George  Ban- 
croft in  1820,  and  R.  B.  Patton  in  182 1.  The  inspiration 
there  received  sowed  the  seed  from  which  has  sprung  such 
abundant  fruit.  Yet  the  seed  was  long  in  sprouting.  A 
very  interesting  letter  from  Bancroft,  written  in  1871,'  offer- 
ing the  foundation  of  a  graduate  scholarship,  tells  of  the 
writer's  unsuccessful  attempts  in  1821  "to  introduce  among 
us  some  parts  of  the  German  system  of  education,  so  as  to 
divide  more  exactly  preliminary  studies  from  the  higher 
scientific  courses,  and  thus  facilitate  the  transformation  of 
our  colleges  into  universities,  after  the  plan  everywhere 
adopted  in  Germany."  He  then  continues :  "  But  it  is  not 
easy  to  change  an  organization  that  has  its  roots  in  the 
habits  of  the  country ;  and  the  experiment  could  not  suc- 
ceed." "  I  then  applied  *  *  *  {qj.  leave  to  read  lec- 
tures on  History  in  the  University.  At  Gottingen  or  at 
Berlin  I  had  the  right,  after  a  few  preliminary  formalities, 
to    deliver    such    a   course.      *      *      *      ^y   request   was 

*  In  the  Harvard  University  Catalog  for  1898-g,  pp.  459  Cf. 


34  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  [284 

declined  by  my  own  alma  mater.  *  *  *"  After  1821 
no  American  seems  to  have  received  a  German  degree  until 
1848,  when  B.  A.  Gould,  the  astronomer,  took  the  doctor's 
degree  in  philosophy.  From  this  time  on  the  numbers 
increased  rapidly.  Gottingen  was  the  favorite  university 
with  Americans,  though  some  studied  elsewhere,  W.  D. 
Whitney  taking  his  degree  at  Breslau  in  1852. 

The  year  1847  saw  the  establishment  at  Yale  of  a  **  depart- 
ment of  philosophy  and  the'  arts,"  for  scientific  and  graduate 
study,  leading  to  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  philosophy. 
The  catalog  of  that  year  says :  "  The  branches  intended 
to  be  embraced  in  this  department  are  such  in  general  as 
are  not  included  under  theology,  law  or  medicine  ;  or  more 
particularly,  mathematical  science,  physical  science  and  its 
application  to  the  arts,  metaphysics,  philology,  literature  and 
history.  The  instructions  in  the  department  are  intended 
for  graduates  of  this  and  other  colleges,  and  for  such  other 
young  men  as  are  desirous  of  pursuing  special  branches  of 
study  ;  but  it  is  necessary  for  all  students  in  philosophy  and 
mathematical  science  that  they  be  thoroughly  grounded  in 
these  studies."  Among  the  first  lecturers  in  these  courses 
were  President  Woolsey  in  Greek,  Professors  Silliman  in 
chemistry.  Porter  in  logic  and  philosophy,  Salisbury  in  ori- 
ental languages.  During  the  years  between  1847  and  1861 
these  courses  were  gradually  expanded,  and  soon  separated 
into  two  divisions,  i,  the  Yale  (afterwards  called  the  Shef- 
field) scientific  school  ;  and  2,  special  courses  in  history,  phil- 
ology, philosophy  and  mathematics.  Other  scholars  of  note 
were  added  to  the  list  of  lecturers,  notably  W.  D.  Whitney 
in  1854.  In  the  catalog  for  1860-61  appears  for  the  first 
time  in  the  United  States  the  announcement  that  the  degree 
of  doctor  of  philosophy  will  be  awarded.  As  candidates 
there  were  to  be  admitted,  without  examination,  bachelors  of 
arts,  science  and  philosophy ;  others  after  successfully  pass- 
ing equivalent  examinations.  The  degree  was  first  bestowed 
in  1 86 1.  A  distinct  graduate  school  was  first  fully  organ- 
ized in  1872. 


285]  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  35 

At  the  University  of  Michigan  a  university  course  was 
projected  early  in  President  Tappan's  administration  (1852- 
1863),  but  never  fully  carried  out.  In  1858-9  some  gradu- 
ate courses  of  lectures  were  established.  The  degree  of 
master  of  arts  was  first  conferred  after  examination  in  1859  ; 
previously  it  had  been  given,  as  elsewhere,  "  in  course,"  i.  e., 
after  the  lapse  of  a  certain  period. 

At  Columbia  college  a  plan  was  formed  between  1854  and 
1857  to  establish  three  schools,  of  philosophy  or  philology, 
jurisprudence  and  history,  and  mathematics  and  physical 
science,  to  extend  through  the  senior  year  of  the  college 
and  two  years  beyond  it,  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  arts  to 
be  given  as  usual  at  the  end  of  the  four  years'  course.  The 
plan  was  not  completely  realized,  but  twenty-five  years  later 
it  was  revived  in  a  somewhat  different  form  by  the  establish- 
ment of  the  school  of  political  science,  and  the  principle 
has  been  substantially  adopted  in  the  present  organization 
of  the  university.  In  1858  courses  of  lectures  for  advanced 
students  were  opened  by  Professors  A,  Guyot,  G.  P.  Marsh, 
W.  G.  Peck  and  others,  but  continued  only  for  one  year. 

In  i860  the  Harvard  catalog  contains  for  the  first  time 
a  definite  statement  about  graduate  students  :'*  Graduates 
of  the  university,  or  of  other  collegiate  institutions,  desirous 
of  pursuing  studies  at  Cambridge  without  joining  any  pro- 
fessional school,  may  do  so  as  resident  graduates."  In 
February,  1863,  courses  of  lectures  were  offered  "open  to 
all  graduates  of  colleges  and  school  teachers  who  enter  their 
names,  to  persons  connected  with  the  university,  except 
undergraduates,  and  to  others  on  payment  of  $5  "  on  nat- 
ural science,  philosophy,  literature,  art,  etc.  Among  the  lec- 
turers were  Louis  Agassiz,  James  Russell  Lowell,  Charles 
Eliot  Norton.  These  lectures  were  continued  until  1872; 
but  the  number  of  resident  graduates  remained  practically 
stationary,  even  declining  to  5  in  1868-9. 

In  1872  Harvard  university  announced  that  it  would  con- 
fer the  degrees  of  doctor  of  philosophy  and  doctor  of 
science,    and  that  the  degree  of  master  of  arts  would  be 


36  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  [286 

given  only  on  examination.  To  candidacy  for  these  higher 
degrees  were  to  be  admitted  bachelors  of  arts  of  Harvard, 
and  bachelors  of  arts  of  other  colleges  who  should  satisfy  the 
faculty  that  they  had  had  a  training  equal  to  that  given  at 
Harvard.  Excellent  provision  was  made  for  the  instruction 
of  graduates,  and  one  fellowship  and  one  scholarship  for 
graduates  were  established.  In  1872  28  graduate  students 
were  enrolled;  in  1876-7,  61  ;  in  1889-90,  iii.  The  gradu- 
ate department  was  organized  as  a  separate  school  in  1890. 
In  the  twenty-five  years  from  1873  to  1898  the  doctorate  in 
science  or  in  philosophy  has  been  conferred  on  212  men. 

At  Cornell  university,  where  actual  instruction  was  begun 
in  1868,  the  degree  of  doctor  of  philosophy  was  planned  for 
from  the  beginning,  though  at  first  the  requirements  were 
strangely  limited.  Rapid  changes  were  soon  made,  how- 
ever, and  in  1871  we  find  the  requirements  of  two  years' 
resident  graduate  study,  the  passing  of  examinations,  and 
the  presentation  of  a  satisfactory  dissertation,  laid  down  in 
the  catalog.  The  graduate  courses  are  thus  described  in 
the  catalog  of  1876:  "Post  graduate  courses  of  study 
leading  to  secondary  or  advanced  degrees  have  been  or  will 
be  on  application  marked  out,  in  the  following  general 
departments :  Chemistry  and  physics,  ancient  classical  lan- 
guages and  literature,  modern  European  languages  and 
literatures,  oriental  languages  and  literatures,  mathematics, 
natural  history,  and  philosophy  and  letters."  In  the  same 
year  regulations  for  the  award  of  the  degree  of  doctor  of 
science  were  established. 

At  Princeton  "  post-graduate  "  courses  are  first  mentioned 
in  the  catalogue  for  1877-8,  as  in  operation,  with  44  students, 
in  three  groups,  philology,  philosophy  and  [natural]  science. 
At  first  only  a  certificate  of  work  done  was  given  to  these 
students ;  the  degree  of  master  of  arts  was  still  given  "  in 
course."  Courses  in  natural  science,  leading  to  the  degree 
of  master  of  science,  were  established  in  1881  ;  and  about 
the  same  time  new  regulations  for  the  master's  degree  were 
published,  and  that  of  doctor  of  philosophy  was  offered. 


287]  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  37 

Johns  Hopkins  university  was  organized  from  the  first 
with  chief  regard  to  graduate  work ;  its  influence  upon 
older  institutions  became  very  marked  from  the  time  of  its 
opening  in  1876.  The  University  of  Michigan  first  offered 
the  doctor's  degree  in  philosophy  in  1874-5.  The  degree 
of  master  of  arts  ceased  to  be  conferred  **  in  course"  in  1877. 

At  Columbia  the  master  of  arts  degree  was  conferred  "  in 
course"  for  the  last  time  in  1880;  thereafter  it  was  given 
only  to  bachelors  of  arts  of  three  years'  standing,  who  had 
pursued  for  at  least  one  year  a  course  of  study  under  the 
direction  of  the  faculty  of  the  college,  in  one  or  more  of  five 
groups :  Greek,  Latin,  English ;  philosophy,  ethics,  logic ; 
mathematics,  mechanics,  astronomy ;  physics,  chemistry, 
geology;  constitutional  law,  economics,  history.  Instruction 
for  graduates  was  begun  in  the  same  year.  The  degree  of 
doctor  of  philosophy  was  first  awarded  in  1884.  The  regu- 
lations for  the  award  of  the  higher  degrees  suffered  several 
changes  from  year  to  year.  In  1890  the  entire  institution 
was  thoroughly  reorganized ;  the  school  of  philosophy  was 
established ;  it  and  the  school  of  political  science,  existing 
since  1879,  were  made  "  university "  faculties,  and  in  1893 
the  faculty  of  pure  science  was  added  to  them. 

At  Bryn  Mawr  college,  opened  in  1885,  graduate  instruc- 
tion was  undertaken  from  the  first,  as  at  Johns  Hopkins, 
though  the  organization  of  undergraduate  work  was  made 
relatively  more  important  than  at  Baltimore.  Clark  univer- 
sity, from  1887,  ^^s  never  organized  undergraduate  courses. 

The  twenty-eight  years  elapsed  since  the  first  doctor  of 
philosophy  was  created  at  New  Haven,  in  1861,  have  brought 
about  an  expansion  and  development  of  graduate  study  that 
is  not  less  than  wonderful.  In  1898-9  over  3,600  students, 
of  whom  nearly  1,000  were  women,  were  enrolled  in  some 
24  institutions.  The  whole  number  who  were  receiving 
graduate  instruction  in  the  United  States  was  much  greater 
than  this;  and  in  1898,  246  persons  received  from  these 
institutions  the  degree  of  doctor  of  philosophy. 

In  this  rapid  development,  from  i860  to  1899,  of  the  doc- 


38  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  [288 

torate  as  the  goal  to  which  the  graduate  student  presses  on, 
must  be  recognized  the  working  of  the  impulse  and  inspira- 
tion brought  from  Germany.  The  enthusiastic  desire,  felt 
by  Bancroft  in  1820,  of  transforming  the  American  college 
into  a  German  university,  shows  itself  again  in  Michigan 
and  elsewhere  a  generation  later.  Between  1870  and  1880 
many  Americans  were  returning  home  from  foreign  study, 
and  the  number  of  those  seeking  the  universities  of  the 
fatherland  increased  rapidly.  What  appealed  to  them  most 
among  the  advantages  there  found  was  the  freedom  of 
research,  and  the  abundant  encouragement  and  opportunities 
extended  to  the  aspiring  student.  There  was  little  or  noth- 
ing in  the  American  college  organization  of  1870  to  encour- 
age this  spirit,  and  it  is  no  wonder  that  each  returning  Ph.  D., 
or  his  less  fortunate  brother  whose  means  or  time  had  not 
permitted  him  to  acquire  this  badge  of  accomplishment, 
should  have  proved  an  apostle  of  a  new  dispensation.  That 
many  mistakes  should  be  made  was  inevitable  ;  the  first 
enthusiasm  overlooked  many  of  the  stubborn  facts  of  Ameri- 
can life  which  refused  to  be  bent  into  agreement  with  Ger- 
man standards.  It  is  to  the  credit  of  American  educators 
that  so  many  ways  have  been  found  of  keeping  what  is  good 
for  us  in  the  German  system,  and  bringing  it  into  harmony 
with  a  national  view  of  life  quite  different  from  that  which 
produced  this  system.  The  plan,  so  often  advocated,  of  turn- 
ing the  colleges  into  universities  at  once,  could  not  have 
succeeded,  because  the  projectors  forgot  that  only  the  Ger- 
man secondary  school  system  made  possible  the  German 
university  and  its  methods  of  work,  that  the  reform  must  be 
begun  at  the  bottom  as  well  as  at  the  top,  and  that  the 
American  college  was  too  intimately  connected  with  the 
American  national  life  to  be  abolished  or  summarily  turned 
into  a  Gymnasium.  The  last  ten  or  fifteen  years  have 
brought  much  greater  clearness  of  vision.  The  problem  to 
be  worked  out,  a  problem  whose  solution  is  well  begun,  is 
how  to  make  of  the  college  the  proper  complement  of  the 
secondary  school.     In  their  gymnasial  organization,  with  its 


289]  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  39 

rigid  training  under  one  system  for  nine  years,  the  Germans 
have  beyond  question  an  educational  advantage  of  incalcu- 
lable value ;  but  such  a  system  is  possible  only  in  a  state 
whose  government  is  sufficiently  strong  and  paternal  to 
impose  its  will  upon  the  people  for  generation  after  genera- 
tion. We  too  could  have  gymnasia  if  we  were  willing  to 
pay  the  price  for  them.-  That  price,  however,  would  be  one 
against  which  the  personal  independence  of  the  American 
would  instantly  protest.  The  maintenance  of  the  rigid  con- 
trol and  discipline  of  the  gymnasium  is  made  possible  only 
by  a  direct  interference  of  the  teachers,  as  government  offi- 
cials, even  with  what  seem  to  Americans  to  be  pure  family 
matters.^ 

Naturally,  then,  what  was  adopted  from  Germany  was 
found  to  be  most  available  and  useful  when  employed  as  a 
supplement  to  the  American  college,  not  as  a  substitute  for 
it.  That  this  addition  to  our  educational  system  was  in 
general  made  in  connection  with  existing  institutions  has 
been  on  the  whole  a  great  advantage  to  us.  Great  libraries, 
laboratories  and  museums,  such  as  are  necessary  to  a  univer- 
sity, cannot  be  created  at  once,  even  with  adequate  endow- 
ments. Until  the  principle  of  American  government  is 
changed  it  will  not  be  possible  to  create  state  institutions 
exclusively  devoted  to  the  highest  education  ;  nor,  under  the 
political  conditions  of  the  United  States,  is  it  desirable. 
The  number  of  men  thoroughly  competent  to  organize  and 
administer  a  great  university  is  very  small  indeed ;  the  best 
commercial  or  political  organizer  often  fails  most  signally  in 
this  field.  For  this  very  reason,  probably,  the  experiment 
has  not  yet  been  possible  on  a  scale  large  enough  to  afford 

a  real  test. 

j 

'  So  for  instance  the  domiciliary  visits  sometimes  made  by  the  teachers,  to  see 
if  the  pupils  are  at  work  at  the  hours  prescribed  for  Hausarbeit.  For  an  excellent 
account  of  the  German  gymnasia,  see  Russell,  J.  E.,  German  Higher  Schools,  N. 
Y.  1899. 


40  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  [29O 


IV  QUALIFICATIONS  FOR  ADMISSION.  STUDIES  AND  DEGREES. 
HONORARY  DOCTORS  OF  PHILOSOPHY.  AIDS  TO  STUDY  AND 
RESEARCH  :    MUSEUMS,  LABORATORIES,  LIBRARIES 

In  general,  the  possession  of  a  bachelor's  degree  is  requi- 
site for  admission  to  the  graduate  school  of  an  American 
university.  In  the  earlier  years  of  the  existence  of  these 
schools,  it  was  chiefly  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  arts  which 
was  demanded.  A  difficulty  soon  arose.  Many  students 
presented  themselves  who  had  had  a  good  training,  though 
without  the  classics,  or  at  least  without  Greek,  and  held 
bachelors'  degrees  in  philosophy  or  science.  At  some  insti- 
tutions these  degrees  represented  distinctly  less  severe  work 
than  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  arts,  at  others  this  discrep- 
ancy did  not  exist.  In  general,  however,  it  must  be  said, 
the  first  degrees  in  "philosophy,"  "letters"  or  "science" 
were  more  easily  acquired  than  that  in  arts.  To  ensure  the 
proper  preparation  of  intending  students,  most  graduate 
faculties  or  boards  of  administration  reserved  and  still 
reserve  the  right  of  passing  upon  the  special  qualifications 
of  each  individual  who  does  not  hold  a  first  degree  from  the 
institution  where  he  seeks  admission  as  a  graduate  student. 
In  some  universities  great  liberality  —  sometimes  too  great 
—  is  shown  toward  applicants.  At  Columbia  those  who 
hold  a  baccalaureate  degree  in  arts,  letters,  philosophy  or 
science,  or  an  engineering  degree,  or  the  equivalent  of  one 
of  these  from  a  foreign  institution  of  learning,  are  admitted 
as  candidates  for  the  degrees  of  master  of  arts  and  doctor  of 
philosophy ;  the  university  faculties  protect  themselves  by 
requiring  that  every  candidate  for  a  higher  degree  must 
present  to  the  dean  of  each  school  in  which  he  intends  to 
study  evidence  that  he  is  qualified  for  the  studies  he  desires 
to  undertake.  A  student  once  admitted  to  one  of  the 
schools,  however,  unless  as  a  special  student,  becomes  ipso 
facto  a  candidate  for  a  degree,  and  is  expected  to  settle  at 
once  upon  his  major  and  two  minor  subjects.  At  other 
universities  admission  to  a  graduate  school  does  not  imply 


291]  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  4I 

admission  to  candidacy  for  a  degree,  this  being  granted  only 
later,  when  the  student  has  shown  himself  thoroughly  quali- 
fied for  the  necessary  work.  This  qualification  includes  in 
many  institutions  the  ability  to  read  fluently  French  and 
German,  sometimes  Latin.  The  plan  has  been  found  to 
work  well  where  it  has  been  in  operation,  and  deserves  gen- 
eral adoption.  It  is  followed,  e.  g.,  at  Harvard,  and  at  the 
University  of  Chicago.  At  the  latter  institution  the  names 
of  those  who  are,  and  those  who  are  not  yet,  admitted  to 
candidacy  for  a  degree  are  printed  separately  in  the 
catalog. 

All  the  graduate  schools,  with  few  if  any  exceptions,  award 
the  degrees  of  master  of  arts  and  doctor  of  philosophy.  At 
Columbia  these  are  the  only  ones  thus  awarded,  the  degree 
of  master  of  laws,  though  classed  as  a  university  degree, 
being  given  for  work  done  under  the  faculties  of  law  and 
political  science  together.  The  doctorate  is  offered  at  some 
institutions  in  two  forms,  doctor  of  philosophy  and  doctor  of 
science ;  the  latter,  given  for  advanced  work  in  natural 
science,  is  rarely  taken.  At  Harvard,  for  instance,  while 
190  degrees  of  Ph.  D.  were  granted  from  1873  to  1898,  but 
22  of  S.  D.  were  given,  the  greatest  number  in  any  one  year 
being  three,  and  none  were  awarded  in  1874,  1876,  1877, 
1880,  1883,  1885,  1888,  1890,  1896,  or  1898. 

The  master's  degree  has  not  been  reduced  to  such  sim- 
plicity. Many  institutions  still  create  masters  of  science, 
philosophy,  letters  (or  literature),  corresponding  to  the  bac- 
calaureate degrees  in  those  subjects. 

The  requirements  to  be  fulfilled  for  the  doctor's  degree 
show  greater  uniformity  among  the  different  institutions  than 
those  for  the  master's.  The  minimum  period  of  study  any- 
where accepted  is  two  years  after  receiving  the  bachelor's 
degree.  Where  undergraduates  are  admitted  to  some  of 
the  courses  arranged  for  graduates,  this  means  that  three 
years  (as  at  Columbia),  or  even  four  (as  at  Cornell),  may 
still  be  passed  under  the  direction  of  the  graduate  faculty 
or  committee   of   graduate  instruction   by  a  student   who 


42  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  [292 

merely  fulfills  the  minimum  requirement  of  graduate  attend- 
ance. But  even  in  those  institutions  where  the  minimum 
period  is  two  years  the  degree  is  not  often  obtained  in  that 
time ;  it  may  indeed  be  safely  said  that  the  minimum  of 
three  years'  study  is  practically  universal.  The  Johns  Hop- 
kins university,  in  establishing  its  regulations  for  the  doc- 
tor's degree,  adopted  the  German  system  of  Hauptfach  and 
Nebenfdcher,  the  "  major  subject  "  being  that  field  of  research 
which  furnishes  the  subject  for  the  dissertation  demanded, 
and  the  "minor  subjects"  being  required  to  be  organically 
connected  with  it.  Harvard  and  Yale,  on  the  other  hand, 
do  not  hold  to  this  system,  demanding  merely  that  the 
amount  and  kind  of  work  done  shall  be  satisfactory  to  the 
controlling  board  or  committee.  At  Harvard  the  regula- 
tions read  as  follows  :  '*  A  candidate  for  the  degree  of  doctor 
of  philosophy  must  offer  himself  for  examination  in  some 
one  of  the  divisions  of  the  faculty  of  arts  and  sciences. 
The  subjects  in  which  the  degree  may  be  taken  are  *  *  *  ; 
philology,  philosophy,  history,  political  science,  music,  mathe- 
matics, physics  (including  chemistry),  natural  history,  Amer- 
ican archaeology  and  ethnology.  Within  his  chosen  division 
the  candidate  must  name  some  special  field  of  study,  approved 
as  sufficient  by  the  committee  on  honors  and  higher  degrees 
in  that  division.  He  is  liable  to  minute  examination  on  the 
whole  of  that  special  field  and  is  also  required  to  prove  such 
acquaintance  with  the  subject-matter  of  his  division  in  gen- 
eral as  the  committee  in  that  division  shall  require."  For 
the  doctorate  in  science  two  subjects  in  the  range  of  the 
mathematical,  physical  and  natural  sciences  are  demanded, 
in  one  of  which  special  attainments  must  be  shown.  Colum- 
bia goes  farther  perhaps  than  any  other  American  univer- 
sity in  specifying  minutely  what  branches  of  study  may 
count  as  subjects  in  the  schools  of  philosophy,  political  sci- 
ence and  pure  science.  Concerning  the  recognition  of  work 
done  in  graduate  schools  elsewhere  great  diversity  of  prac- 
tice prevails.  No  university  has  yet  seen  fit  to  accept  can- 
didates for  the  degree  who  have  completed  all  their  residence 


293]  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  43 

elsewhere,  as  is  so  freely  done  in  Germany ;  the  feeling  is 
still  strong  that  the  institution  that  bestows  a  degree  upon  a 
candidate  must  have  had  that  candidate  under  its  direct 
charge  for  a  considerable  time.  The  practice  shows  a  dis- 
trust of  other  institutions  which  is  far  from  complimentary 
to  the  general  state  of  the  university  education  in  America, 
and  is  partly  explainable  from  the  strong  competition  for 
students  which,  characteristic  of  most  of  the  colleges,  is  often 
seen  in  the  graduate  schools  as  well.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that 
this  spirit  will  gradually  disappear.  The  sooner  all  the 
graduate  schools  realize  that  their  interests  are  absolutely 
identical  the  better  for  university  education  in  America. 
The  smallest  minimum  time  of  actual  residence  where  the 
degree  is  sought  that  is  anywhere  prescribed  for  the  doctor's 
degree  is  one  year.  Generally  it  is  the  last  year  of  resi- 
dence that  is  thus  demanded.  Wisconsin  stipulates  that 
either  the  last  year  or  the  first  two  years  be  spent  in  resi- 
dence there.  At  some  of  the  universities  there  are  regula- 
tions concerning  the  minimum  number  of  hours  of  lectures 
to  be  taken  ;  at  Columbia,  for  instance,  candidates  for  either 
the  master's  or  the  doctor's  degree  are  expected  to  attend 
lectures  for  at  least  four  hours  a  week  in  the  major  subject, 
and  two  hours  a  week  in  each  of  the  minors,  and  a  seminar 
must  be  attended  in  the  major  subject.  At  Johns  Hopkins 
each  minor  subject  is  expected  to  be  followed  for  a  year,  the 
first  minor  to  about  double  the  extent  of  the  second.  Most 
of  the  universities,  however,  leave  the  graduate  student  free 
in  this  respect,  justly  regarding  the  direction  and  advice  of 
the  professor  as  a  better  guide  than  hard  and  fast  regula- 
tions. Nearly  everywhere  a  reading  knowledge  of  French 
and  German,  and  in  many  institutions  a  similar  knowledge 
of  Latin,  are  demanded  of  the  candidate.  The  require- 
ments of  a  dissertation  embodying  original  research,  and  of 
examinations,  are  enforced  at  all  the  prominent  institutions. 
In  the  management  of  the  examinations  the  practice  of  the 
various  institutions  differs  widely.  In  many  both  written 
and  oral  examinations  must  be  passed,  and  often  the  candi- 


44  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  [294 

date  must  pass  an  oral  examination  at  least  on  his  major 
subject,  and  defend  his  dissertation,  before  the  whole  fac- 
ulty—  a  custom  which  ought  to  be  made  universal.  Fifteen 
at  least  of  the  universities  granting  the  doctor's  degree 
require  the  dissertation,  when  accepted,  to  be  printed  ;  in 
most  cases  where  this  is  done  a  stated  number  of  copies 
must  be  furnished,  free  of  cost  to  the  institution,  to  its 
library,  for  distribution  among  other  institutions  at  home  and 
abroad. 

Concerning  the  master's  degree,  as  has  been  said  above, 
much  less  uniformity  prevails.  The  Ph.  D.  degree  was  so 
distinctively  a  new  departure  when  first  introduced  into 
America  that  it  was  easier  to  establish  regulations  for  it 
which  should  be  at  variance  with  old-established  usage ;  but 
the  master  of  arts  was  as  old  as  the  college  itself,  and  a 
firmly  fixed  tradition  gave  it,  for  many  years,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  after  a  certain  interval  of  time,  to  those  bachelors 
who  were  willing  to  pay  a  moderate  amount  for  the  privilege. 
Only  rarely  was  any  evidence  of  continued  study  demanded. 
After  the  middle  of  the  present  century,  however,  this  cus- 
tom was  viewed  with  increasing  disfavor,  and  one  college 
after  another  abolished  it.  Requirements  of  residence  and 
study  were  established,  or  of  study  elsewhere  than  at  the 
institution  granting  the  degree,  with  an  examination  as  a 
test.  But  these  requirements  were  made  on  two  different 
principles.  In  some  places  the  master's  degree  was  viewed 
as  an  advanced  baccalaureate,  and  requirements  of  certain 
"  courses,"  covering  a  certain  number  of  hours  of  attendance, 
adopted.  Elsewhere  it  was  regarded  as  a  sort  of  minor  doc- 
tor's degree,  and  the  requirements  arranged  accordingly,  i.  e., 
attendance  for  a  certain  minimum  period,  without  stipulation 
of  the  number  of  hours,  and  a  thesis  or  essay.  Columbia 
seems  to  have  gone  farthest  in  this  respect,  demanding  work 
in  three  subjects,  as  for  the  doctor's  degree.  In  all  cases, 
however,  under  both  systems  alike,  the  time  spent  in  resi- 
dence for  the  master's  degree  may  count  towards  the  doctor- 
ate.    The  minimum  term  of  residence  is  everywhere  a  year, 


295]  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  45 

except  that  the  University  of  Michigan  is  satisfied  with  six 
months  from  its  own  graduates.  Clark  university  and  Johns 
Hopkins  do  not  grant  the  master's  degree  separately  from 
the  doctorate ;  at  Bryn  Mawr  it  may  be  given  separately 
only  to  graduates  of  that  college. 

The  better  and  more  logical  plan  seems  to  be  the  separa- 
tion of  the  master's  degree  in  principle  from  the  doctor's. 
While  both  go  back  to  the  same  beginning,  and  when  first 
bestowed  in  European  universities  meant  about  the  same 
thing,  their  courses  of  development  diverged,  England  hold- 
ing to  the  master  of  arts  and  Germany  substituting  for  it 
the  doctorate  in  philosophy,  to  correspond  with  that  in  law 
and  medicine,  and  everywhere  doing  away  with  the  bacca- 
laureate, except  as  transferred  to  the  gymnasia  and  repre- 
sented by  the  testimonium  maturitatis.  It  is  interesting, 
and  characteristic  for  the  peculiar  development  of  American 
educational  forms,  that  the  two  divergent  branches  of  the 
parent  stem  should  have  been  brought  together  again  in  our 
universities.  There  will  always  be  a  considerable  number 
of  students  who  wish  to  continue  their  work  beyond  the 
bachelor's  degree,  but  along  the  same  lines,  and  do  not  care 
to  enter  upon  the  detailed  research  necessary  for  the  doctor- 
ate. For  these  the  master's  degree,  administered  on  the 
first  plan,  is  most  appropriate.  Those,  on  the  other  hand, 
who  seek  the  doctorate  are  mostly  indifferent  to  the  master's 
degree. 

The  methods  of  study  and  instruction  differ  but  slightly 
from  those  in  vogue  in  the  German  university,  and  thus  far 
have  yielded  excellent  results.  The  differences  are  mainly 
such  as  result  naturally  from  the  greater  burdening  of  the 
American  professor  with  routine  work,  and  from  the  varying 
conditions  of  previous  training  on  the  part  of  the  students. 
In  general,  the  "  lecture,"  or  freier  Vortrag,  is  less  common 
than  in  Germany,  though  gradually  supplanting  the  recita- 
tion even  in  the  upper  classes  of  the  college  ;  in  the  opinion 
of  the  present  writer,  the  lecture  is  still  far  from  receiving 
its  due  development  among  us.     Its  value  in  the  exposition 


46 


THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY 


[296 


of  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  various  sciences  is  not 
yet  everywhere  fully  recognized.  "  Seminar  "  methods  are 
now  very  widely  used  even  where  the  constitution  of  the 
class  is  much  less  restricted  than  in  the  German  seminars. 
The  American  seminar  is  of  course  very  variously  adminis- 
tered, depending  on  the  ability  of  those  in  charge  and  the 
preparation  of  the  students.  The  professors,  so  far  as  their 
other  prescribed  tasks  allow,  set  the  example  of  individual 
scientific  research.  It  cannot  yet  be  said,  however,  that  this 
is  made  easy  for  the  American  professor. 

An  interesting  chapter  in  the  history  of  American  educa- 
tion, and  unfortunately  one  that  cannot  yet  be  brought  to  a 
close,  concerns  the  fight  made  against  the  outrageous  prac- 
tice of  awarding  the  doctorate  in  philosophy  as  an  honor- 
ary degree.  Awarded  first  by  Yale  in  i860  as  strictly  a 
specialist's  degree,  it  has  been  jealously  guarded  by  the 
more  reputable  institutions,  while  the  less  scrupulous  col- 
leges seized  upon  it  with  avidity  as  a  new  advertisement  for 
themselves.  Several  learned  societies,  following  the  lead 
taken  by  the  American  philological  association  in  1881,  set 
themselves  vigorously  against  the  abuse,  and  in  1896  a  con- 
vention of  graduate  students  held  at  Baltimore  strongly 
condemned  the  practice.  The  sentiment  of  the  enlightened 
public  is  gradually  being  brought  to  condemn  the  custom, 
though  the  rate  of  progress  suffers  considerable  variation 
from  year  to  year.  The  following  table  shows  the  figures 
for  certain  years : 


NO.  OF  PH.  D.  DEGREES 

GRANTED     IN     UNITED 

STATES 

1873 

1884 

1889 

1894 

189s 

1896 

1897 

1898 

On  examination 

25 
17 

6%% 

28 
36 

128^ 

121 

41^ 

233 
33 

14^ 

234 
34 

239 

27 

91-2^ 

227 
30 

13% 

304 
15 

Honoris  causa 

Ratio  of  honorary  Ph.  D.  to 
Ph.  D.  on  examination... 

With  the  equipment  ot   laboratories,  museums  and  libra- 
ries, indispensable  for  research,  the  American  universities 


297]  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  47 

are  now  fairly  well,  and  some  of  them  abundantly,  provided. 
Many  of  the  laboratories  are  the  gift  of  private  individuals ; 
sometimes  the  buildings  only  have  been  thus  provided, 
sometimes  the  equipment  only,  sometimes  both.  The  insti- 
tutions situated  in  or  near  large  cities  have  in  addition  the 
advantage  of  the  public  museums  and  libraries ;  thus,  to 
mention  but  a  few  instances.  Harvard  is  within  easy  reach 
of  the  Boston  museum  of  fine  arts  and  the  Boston  public 
library,  besides  having  under  her  own  control  several  excel- 
lent museums ;  Columbia  is  close  to  the  Metropolitan 
museum  of  art,  the  American  museum  of  natural  history, 
and  others  ;  the  Johns  Hopkins  students  can  easily  reach  the 
great  national  collections  at  Washington,  and  so  on.  The 
western  universities  are  not  as  yet  so  highly  favored  in  this 
respect. 

The  growth  of  the  university  and  college  libraries  in  the 
United  States  is  hardly  less  than  phenomenal.  The  largest 
are  the  following  :  Harvard,  524,000  vols.;  Chicago,  309,000 ; 
Yale,  290,000;  Columbia,  260,000;  Cornell,  211,000;  Penn- 
sylvania, 160,000.  It  must  be  said,  however,  that  the  excel- 
lence of  the  library  is  not  always  indicated  by  its  size.  The 
liberal  and  practical  spirit  in  which  American  university 
libraries  are  administered  is  very  striking ;  of  the  cumber- 
some methods  and  vexatious  restrictions  so  common  in 
European  libraries  little  is  to  be  found. 

V    PUBLICATIONS  OF  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITIES 

From  a  number  of  the  universities  of  the  United  States 
issue  serial  publications  of  a  scientific  character,  and  occa- 
sional learned  works,  written  or  edited  by  professors  and 
advanced  students  of  those  institutions.  Some  of  the  uni- 
versities issue  these  at  their  own  expense,  the  entire  publi- 
cation being  under  the  immediate  control  and  direction  of 
the  institution,  as  at  Chicago,  others  through  arrangements 
made  with  publishing  houses.  The  following  list  of  the 
chief  publications  of  six  of  the  leading  universities  will  afford 
an  idea  of  the  activity  prevailing  in  this  field : 


48  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  [298 

I  Harvard  university  —  Some  departments  of  study  issue 
periodicals  or  yearly  volumes,  embodying  the  work  of 
instructors  and  students  at  the  university.     Such  are  : 

Harvard  Oriental  Series.     Vols.  I-V. 

Harvard  Studies  in  Classical  Philogy.     Yearly.     Vols.  I-X. 

Studies  and  Notes  in  Philology  and  Literature.  Yearly.  Vols. 
I-VH. 

Harvard  Historical  Studies.     Vols.  I-VH. 

Quarterly  Journal  of  Economics ;  now  in  thirteenth  year. 

Annals  of  the  Observatory  of  Harvard  College.     Vols.  I-XXXVI. 

Contributions  from  the  Cryptogamic  Laboratory.     Nos,  1-40. 

Publications  of  the  Museum  of  Comparative  Zoology  :  Bulletins, 
vols.  I-XXXn  ;  Memoirs,  vols.  I-XXH. 

Contributions  from  the  Zoological  Laboratory.     Nos.  1-86. 

Publications  of  the  Peabody  Museum  of  American  Archaeology 
and  Ethnology:  Reports,  Nos.  1-3 1  ;  Papers,  Nos.  1-6;  Memoirs, 
Nos.  1-5. 

2  Johns  Hopkins  university — The  Johns  Hopkins  press 
issues  the  following,  edited  by  professors  of  the  university  : 

American  Journal  of  Mathematics.     Quarterly.     Vols.  I-XXL 
American  Chemical  Journal.     Monthly.     Vols.  I-XXL 
American  Journal  of  Philology.     Quarterly.     Vols.  I-XX. 
Studies  from  the  Biological  Laboratory. 

Studies  in  History  and  Politics.  Monthly.  Vols.  I-XVH  ;  also 
eighteen  extra  volumes. 

Johns  Hopkins  Hospital  Reports.     Vols.  I-VH. 

Contributions  to  Assyriology,  etc.     Vols.  I-IV. 

Memoirs  from  the  Biological  Laboratory.     Vols.  I-IV. 

Modern  Language  Notes.     Monthly.     Vols.  I-XIV. 

Journal  of  Experimental  Medicine.     Bi-monthly.     Vols.  I-IV. 

American  Journal  of  Insanity.     Quarterly. 

Reports  of  the  Maryland  Geological  Survey. 

3  University  of  Pennsylvania— The  following  are  Issued 
under  the  editorial  supervision  of  the  university  publications 
committee.  They  are  issued  for  the  most  part  at  irregular 
intervals. 

Series  in  Philology,  Literature  and  Archaeology. 

Series  in  Philosophy. 

Series  in  Political  Economy  and  Public  Law. 


299]  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  49 

Series  in  Botany. 
Series  in  Zoology. 
Series  in  Mathematics. 
Series  in  Hygiene. 
Series  in  Astronomy. 

The  museums  of  archaeology  and  palaeontology  also  pub- 
lish occasional  reports. 

4  Columbia  university  —  The  Columbia  university  press 
is  a  private  corporation,  the  trustees  of  which  must  be  mem- 
bers of  the  teaching  staff,  and  its  presiding  officer  the  presi- 
dent of  the  university.  Up  to  the  present  time  it  has  issued 
sixteen  volumes,  mostly  by  present  or  former  members  of 
the  university. 

From  the  university  issue  the  following  series  of  studies 
and  contributions,  some  few  of  them  through  regular  pub- 
lishing channels : 

Biological  Contributions  from  C.  U. 

C.  U.  Contributions  to  Philosophy,  Psychology  and  Education. 

Contributions  from  the  Electrical  Engineering  Department  of 
C.  U. 

Contributions  from  the  Geological  Department,  the  Herbarium, 
the  Mineralogical  Department,  the  Observatory. 

Memoirs  from  the  Department  of  Botany. 

Studies  from  the  Analytical  and  Assay  Laboratories,  the  Depart- 
ment of  Pathology. 

Studies  in  History,  Economics  and  Public  Law. 

The  following  journals  are  issued  under  the  direction  of 
members  of  the  faculty  : 

Bulletin  of  the  American  Mathematical  Society. 
Bulletin  of  the  Torrey  Botanical  Club. 
Educational  Review. 
Political  Science  Quarterly. 
School  of  Mines  Quarterly. 

5  University  of  Wisconsin  —  The  university  issues  four 
series  of  publications,  known  as  the  Bulletins  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Wisconsin,  under  the  direction  of  a  committee 
consisting  of  the  president  and  several  professors. 


50  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  [3OO 

Series  in  Economics,  Political  Science  and  History.  Vols,  i 
and  2. 

Series  in  Science.     Vols,  i  and  2. 

Series  in  Language  and  Literature.     Vol.  i. 

Series  in  Engineering.     Vols,  i  and  2. 

6  University  of  Chicago — The  University  press  forms  one 
of  five  divisions  in  the  constitution  of  the  university,  and  is 
managed  by  a  director  appointed  by  the  trustees.  The 
department  of  publication,  one  of  its  parts,  issues  the  fol- 
lowing journals,  edited  by  professors  of  the  university  : 

Journal  of  Political  Economy.     Quarterly. 
Journal  of  Geology.     Bi-monthly. 
Astrophysical  Journal.     Ten  nos.  a  year. 
American  Journal  of  Sociology.     Bi-monthly. 
Biblical  World.     Monthly. 

American  Journal  of  Semitic  Languages  and  Literature  (con- 
tinuation of:  Hebraica).     Quarterly. 
Botanical  Gazette.     Monthly. 
School  Review,     Ten  nos.  a  year. 
American  Journal  of  Theology.     Quarterly. 

Several  series  of  "  Studies  "  have  also  appeared.    These  are : 

Contributions  to  Philosophy.     I-IV. 
Economic  Studies.     I-IV. 
Studies  in  Political  Science.     I-III. 
Studies  in  Classical  Philology.     I-V. 
Germanic  Studies.     I-III. 
English  Studies.     I. 
Physiological  Archives.     I. 
Anthropological  Bulletins.     I,  II. 

The  press  also  issues  from  time  to  time  books,  particu- 
larly those  of  scientifiG  value. 

VI    FELLOWSHIPS     AND     SCHOLARSHIPS.        GIFTS      AND      ENDOW- 
MENTS   FOR    UNIVERSITIES,    PARTICULARLY    FOR    RESEARCH 

The  generosity  of  private  individuals  towards  education, 
which  in  its  largest  form  has  made  possible  the  foundation 
of  such  institutions  as  Johns  Hopkins,  Cornell  and  Chicago, 
manifests  itself  likewise  in  the  humbler  guise  of  gifts  and 


30l]  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  51 

endowments  for  special  purposes,  in  the  establishment  of 
museums  and  laboratories,  of  funds  for  the  maintenance  of 
these  or  of  libraries,  in  the  foundation  of  scholarships  and 
fellowships  intended  to  aid  students  of  high  promise  in  the 
prosecution  of  their  studies,  or  to  reward  those  who  have 
shown  conspicuous  merit.  In  general,  it  may  be  said  that 
the  specifically  college  part  of  an  institution  fares  much  bet- 
ter than  the  university  or  graduate  part  in  these  respects. 
The  reasons  are  not  far  to  seek.  Prizes  naturally  appeal 
more  to  the  younger  students,  and  are  more  easily  awarded 
in  connection  with  the  definitely  arranged  work  of  under- 
graduate courses  ;  it  is  harder  for  undergraduates  to  support 
themselves  by  giving  private  instruction,  and  in  other  ways, 
than  for  graduate  students ;  the  need  of  "  dormitories "  or 
residence  halls,  which  few  colleges  can  afford  to  erect  from 
their  own  funds,  is  more  pressing  for  undergraduates  ;  and, 
finally,  of  the  college-trained  men,  from  whom  the  larger 
number  of  endowments  come  (though  to  this  there  are  many 
striking  exceptions),  not  a  very  large  proportion  have  had 
actual  experience  of  graduate  work,  and  do  not  so  readily 
recognize  the  importance  of  it,  and  their  loyalty  to  their  alma 
matres  is  accordingly  concentrated  chiefly  upon  the  collegi- 
ate rather  than  the  university  part,  where  the  latter  exists. 
Scholarships  and  fellowships  are  much  more  bountifully 
supplied,  for  graduates  as  well  as  undergraduates,  in  the 
universities  of  private  foundation  than  in  the  state  universi- 
ties. In  the  latter  tuition  is  either  free  or  considerably 
cheaper  than  in  the  former,  and  the  need  for  aid  to  the  stu- 
dent correspondingly  less.  Harvard,  Yale,  Columbia,  Cor- 
nell, Princeton,  Pennsylvania,  Johns  Hopkins,  Bryn  Mawr, 
and  Chicago  are  particularly  well  supplied  in  this  respect ; 
Chicago  has  nearly  eighty  fellowships  to  award  each  year, 
Columbia  and  Pennsylvania  each  over  thirty.  The  amount 
paid  by  a  fellowship  to  the  holder  varies  from  $120  (as  some 
at  Chicago)  to  $800 ;  the  most  usual  figure  is  about  $500. 
The  value  of  a  fellowship  may,  however,  be  decreased  by 
the  requirement,  made  at  some  universities,  that  all  tuition 


52  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  [302 

fees  must  be  paid  by  the  holders  ;  Columbia  is  perhaps  the 
most  liberal  in  exempting  the  holders  of  fellowships  from 
such  payments.  In  some  universities  certain  duties  in  the 
way  of  instruction,  etc.,  are  expected  of  the  fellows. 

The  differences  between  scholarships  and  fellowships  are 
in  general  briefly  these  :  The  fellowships  are  awarded  only 
to  graduates ;  a  scholarship  may  be  for  graduates  or  for 
undergraduates  ;  the  scholarships  are  awarded  generally  for 
a  single  year  only,  and  without  possibility  of  renewal,  while 
some  fellowships  run  for  several  years,  and  the  annual  ones 
may  be  reassigned  once  or  twice  to  the  same  person. 

The  fellowship  system  was  first  extensively  used  by  Johns 
Hopkins,  and  has  rapidly  become  a  striking  feature  of  Ameri- 
can university  organization.  The  object  sought  has  been  in 
most  cases  completely  attained,  viz.,  to  bring  together  a  body 
of  picked  men  or  women,  who  display  high  ability  and  good 
previous  training  for  the  work  of  research,  and  spare  them 
the  necessity,  so  trying  to  earnest  students,  of  earning  their 
living  while  carrying  on  their  advanced  studies.  Some  few 
of  the  fellowships  are  so  organized  as  to  permit  part  or  the 
whole  of  the  time  over  which  they  extend  to  be  spent  in  study 
abroad ;  Bryn  Mawr  in  particular  offers  three  European  fel- 
lowships, and  for  1898-9  Harvard  made  twelve  appointments 
to  non-resident  fellowships. 

Some  of  these  fellowships  are  paid  out  of  the  general  funds 
of  the  university  awarding  them  ;  others  are  maintained  by 
the  proceeds  of  private  gifts  and  endowments.  At  some 
institutions  the  fellowships  are  assigned  permanently  to  cer- 
tain departments ;  at  others  the  majority  of  them  are  given 
to  the  most  promising  candidates,  little  regard  being  had  to 
an  even  distribution  among  departments.  The  fellowships 
and  scholarships  founded  by  individuals  are  generally 
attached  to  some  one  department.  Among  the  notable 
benefactions  of  this  sort  are :  At  Harvard,  the  Kirkland 
fellowship,  founded  by  Bancroft  in  1871  ;  the  Walker  fel- 
lowship (1881),  generally  given  to  a  student  of  ethics  and 
philosophy;  the  John  Tyndall  fellowship  (1885),  in  physics; 


303]  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  53 

the  Robert  Treat  Paine  fellowship  of  social  science  (1887); 
the  Hemenway  fellowship  of  American  archaeology  and 
ethnology  (1891).  At  Columbia,  the  Tyndall  fellowship, 
similar  to  that  at  Harvard,  both  of  them,  with  others  else- 
where, having  been  founded  by  Professor  Tyndall ;  the 
Barnard  fellowship,  in  physical  science,  established  by  will 
of  the  late  President  Barnard ;  the  Henry  Drisler  fellow- 
ship in  classical  philology;  the  Mosenthal  fellowship  in 
music ;  the  Schiff  fellowship  in  political  science.  The  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania  possesses  a  permanent  fund  of 
$500,000,  the  gift  of  Provost  Harrison,  the  income  of  which 
is  partly  applied  to  nineteen  fellowships,  fourteen  of  which 
are  permanently  assigned  to  particular  departments.  This 
fund  also  supplies  five  remarkable  senior  fellowships,  yield- 
ing $800  a  year  each,  open  only  to  doctors  of  philosophy  of 
the  university.  Johns  Hopkins  awards  the  Bruce  fellowship 
in  biological  science.  Cornell  offers,  among  others,  two 
President  White  fellowships,  one  in  modern  history  and  one 
in  political  and  social  science,  and  three  Susan  Linn  Sage 
fellowships  in  philosophy. 

Several  fellowships  at  the  American  schools  of  classical 
studies  at  Athens  and  in  Rome  are  also  offered  to  graduates 
of  American  universities ;  of  these  the  Hoppin  fellowship  at 
Athens,  and  the  fellowship  in  Christian  archaeology  at  the 
school  in  Rome,  are  private  foundations. 

There  is,  perhaps,  no  prominent  institution  in  the  United 
States  devoted  to  the  higher  education  which  does  not  pos- 
sess some  practical  demonstration  of  the  determination  of 
individuals  to  further  the  work,  not  only  of  instruction,  but 
of  research  as  well.  The  greater  gifts  result  in  museums, 
laboratories  or  libraries ;  such  are  the  Semitic  museum  and 
the  Fogg  art  museum  at  Cambridge,  the  Avery  architectural 
library  at  Columbia,  the  White  historical  library  at  Cornell, 
and  many  more.  The  magnificent  library  building  at  Colum- 
bia is  the  gift  of  her  president ;  a  great  fund,  presented  by 
the  Due  de  Loubat,  will  one  day  become  available  as  a 
library  fund  at  Columbia ;  the  generosity  of  several  gradu- 


54  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  [304 

ates  of  Yale  brought  to  her  the  admirable  classical  library 
of  Ernst  Curtius,  as  the  historical  library  of  Bluntschli  was 
brought  to  Baltimore ;  in  Messrs.  Stanford  and  Rockefeller 
and  Mrs.  Hearst  the  Leland  Stanford,  Jr.,  university,  the 
University  of  Chicago  and  the  University  of  California 
have  found  more  than  princely  benefactors ;  the  gifts  of  the 
patrons  of  Princeton,  Cornell,  Chicago  are  almost  without 
number.  In  the  Drisler  classical  fund  Columbia  possesses 
a  means  of  supply  for  the  purchase  of  books  and  illustra- 
tions, such  as  casts  and  photographs,  for  the  better  prosecu- 
tion of  the  work  in  Latin  and  Greek.  The  Harvard  astro- 
nomical observatory,  among  many  splendid  gifts,  received 
in  1885  one  of  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  million  dollars,  the 
entire  fortune  of  the  late  Robert  Treat  Paine,  for  purposes 
of  astronomical  research.  Owing  to  the  comparative  lack 
of  great  fortunes  in  the  southern  states,  the  universities  there 
have  not  fared  so  well ;  but  the  spirit  is  abroad  there  too,  and 
the  constant  increase  of  wealth  in  those  states  is  certain  to  be 
followed  by  the  liberal  extension  of  aid  to  the  universities. 
A  very  remarkable  and  encouraging  feature  of  the  gener- 
osity manifested  in  the  United  States  towards  institutions  of 
learning  is  the  fact  that  so  many  of  the  gifts,  among  them 
several  of  the  largest,  have  come  from  men  who  had  not 
enjoyed  collegiate  education.  A  case  in  point  is  the  munifi- 
cence of  Mr.  Fayerweather,  a  merchant  of  New  York,  who 
bequeathed  in  1891  more  than  four  millions  of  dollars  to 
various  colleges  and  universities,  wisely  refraining  from 
adding,  as  many  public  spirited  men  of  less  judgment  have 
done,  to  the  superfluity  of  institutions  already  existing,  and 
with  equal  wisdom  leaving  to  the  recipients  of  the  funds  the 
determination  of  the  purposes  for  which  the  funds  should  be 
used.  It  is  truly  encouraging  for  the  future  of  education  in 
America  that  so  many  of  her  millionaires  are  willing  to  give 
freely  of  the  fortunes  that  they  have  accumulated,  and  that 
those  who  give  the  most  should  set  the  example  of  entrust- 
ing the  application  of  the  funds  to  those  who  best  under- 
stand the  needs  to  be  met. 


305]  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  55 


VII    SOME    PRESENT    UNIVERSITY    PROBLEMS 

Da  muss  sich  manches  R'dtsel  losen. 
Dock  manches  R'dtsel  knilpft  sich  auch. 

—  Faust. 

When  the  problems  of  education  are  all  solved,  educa- 
tion itself  will  be  dead,  and  the  need  of  it  greater  than 
ever.  The  entire  range  of  education  in  the  United  States 
has  been  in  a  state  of  rapid  transition  for  many  years 
already,  and  nowhere  have  the  changes  been  more  constant 
than  in  the  domain  of  college  and  university  education. 
From  the  establishment  of  graduate  courses  at  Yale  in  1847 
until  the  present  day,  probably  no  year  has  passed  without 
seeing  some  new  experiment  tried,  some  old  institution  reor- 
ganized or  new  one  founded.  If  the  new  institutions  have 
often  shown  too  little  willingness  to  profit  by  the  experience 
of  others,  or  to  adopt  the  ways  and  means  of  other  lands,  it 
must  be  remembered  that  the  educational  problem  has  been 
but  one  of  many  with  which  the  leaders  of  thought  in  this 
country  have  been  confronted,  and  that  in  the  attempt  to 
conform  institutions  to  the  spirit  of  the  country  it  has  been 
necessary  first  to  discover,  often  at  great  pains  and  heavy 
cost  to  the  experimenter,  what  that  spirit  was. 

Naturally  the  most  important  question  has  been  and  still 
is  that  of  organization.  It  has  doubtless  become  apparent 
from  the  foregoing  description  that  no  two  universities  are 
just  alike,  and  that  the  differences  do  not  by  any  means  con- 
cern unimportant  points.  Every  possible  variety  of  organi* 
zation  and  administration  seems  to  the  observer  —  especially 
the  foreign  observer — to  have  been  tried,  except  that  of  a 
consistent  and  rigid  adherence  to  forms  sanctioned  by  cen- 
turies of  permanence  in  Europe. 

The  vacillation  has  come  from  uncertainty  as  to  the  true 
purposes  of  the  university.  In  Europe  these  purposes  were 
long  ago  settled :  the  university  exists  to  train  servants  of 
the  state,  or,  as  prevailing  in  England,  to  train  up  a  race  of 
gentlemen  who  shall  never  forget  the  obligations  of  their 


56  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  [306 

caste.  It  is  the  glory  of  Germany  that  she  has  seen  more 
clearly  than  other  nations  how  truly  the  highest  scientific 
training  is  none  too  good  for  her  public  servants. 

The  wholly  different  conditions  prevailing  in  the  United 
States  have  been  reflected  in  the  organization  of  our  univer- 
sities and  colleges.  There  is  no  state  religion,  and  the 
national  constitution  forbids  the  patronage  or  proscription  of 
any  sect ;  consequently  the  theological  faculty,  originally  the 
most  important  in  the  universities  of  western  and  northern 
Europe,  found  no  state  recognition.  The  practice  of  the  law 
was  subject  to  few  restrictions,  and  indeed  in  at  least  one 
state  is  still  open  to  every  citizen  of  mature  age,  so  that  the 
schools  of  law,  when  they  began  at  all,  grew  up  mostly  on  a 
basis  of  private  organization,  with  purely  practical  training 
as  their  object,  and  often  underbid  one  another  in  their 
eagerness  for  students.  With  such  exceptions  as  the  nature 
of  the  profession  brings  with  it,  the  regulation  of  the  study 
and  practice  of  medicine  went  the  same  course,  proprietary 
schools  being  the  most  frequent  form  of  organization  for 
instruction  in  the  healing  art.  As  for  the  faculty  of  arts  or 
philosophy,  which,  originally  preparatory  for  one  of  the 
others,  had  in  Germany  been  put  on  a  par  with  them  and 
made  the  doorway  to  the  new  profession  of  teaching  in  the 
state  schools,  its  ground  was  partially  covered  by  the  cur- 
ricula of  the  best  colleges.  The  character  of  these  colleges 
however  resembled  more  nearly  that  of  the  German  philo- 
sophical faculty  of  two  centuries  ago.  The  state  systems  of 
education  did  not  at  first  include  more  than  elementary 
schools,  so  that  there  was  no  great  incentive  for  prescribing 
a  college  course  for  those  persons  who  wished  to  teach  in 
them;  nor  would  such  a  regulation  have  been  popular  in 
intensely  democratic  communities,  or,  in  the  poverty  of 
many  of  the  states,  easily  possible  of  fulfillment.  Under 
these  circumstances  the  European  conception  of  a  univer- 
sity was  lost ;  and  when  it  began  to  be  regained,  different 
systems,  imperfect  and  incongruous  it  is  true,  but  still  in 
many  ways  useful,  had  grown  up  to  fill  the  needs  which  are 


307]  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  57 

supplied  in  Europe  by  the  university.  Other  needs  had 
made  themselves  felt  in  America  even  more  keenly :  the 
needs  incident  to  the  rapid  settling  and  exploitation  of  a 
new  country,  where  vast  distances  and  a  phenomenal  growth 
of  population  made  imperative  some  provision  for  training 
in  the  technical  professions  and  mechanical  arts.  It  is  not 
strange,  then,  though  it  has  been  unfortunate  for  the  country 
at  large,  that  the  last  need  to  be  recognized  in  education  has 
been  the  need  of  thorough  training  in  the  humanities  and  in 
pure  science,  in  what  has  been  admirably  well  called'  "  dis- 
interested scientific  thinking,  as  distinguished  from  tech- 
nical or  commercial  science." 

American  educators,  then,  are  not  yet  at  one  as  regards 
the  true  function  of  the  university.  In  general,  two  oppos- 
ing views  are  chiefly  held.  The  purpose  of  the  Leland 
Stanford,  Jr.,  university  is  declared  to  be :  To  fit  young 
persons  for  success  in  life.  An  admirable  purpose,  no  doubt, 
but  one  which  the  university  must  share  in  common  with 
many  other  institutions.  Of  a  like  breadth  of  conception  is 
the  avowed  purpose  of  Ezra  Cornell :  I  would  found  an 
institution  where  any  person  may  find  instruction  in  any 
study.  The  brilliant  history  of  Cornell  university  is  chiefly 
due  to  the  wisdom  of  the  men  who  have  seen  what  limita- 
tions should  be  put  upon  this  great  plan.  This  view  of  the 
true  function  of  a  university  is  chiefly  prevalent  in  the  west ; 
one  sometimes  hears  it  said  that  the  western  universities 
exist  solely  for  the  sake  of  the  students,  while  some  of  the 
eastern  universities  seem  to  think  that  the  students  exist 
chiefly  for  the  sake  of  the  universities  or  of  science  at  large. 
The  universities  of  private  foundation  are  proceeding  more 
and  more  on  the  assumption  that  their  function  is  to  train, 
in  their  graduate  departments  or  faculties  of  philosophy, 
specialists,  as  teachers,  and  to  a  less  extent  as  investigators ; 
those  which  have  raised  some  of  their  professional  schools  to 

'  By  Professor  West  of  Princeton,  in  the  Educational  Review  for  October,  1899. 
So  too  Professor  Coulter  {Ibid.  IV  [1892]  366  ff):  "  The  university  is  in  the  largest 
sense  a  place  for  the  emancipation  of  thought." 


58  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  [308 

true  university  rank  by  refusing  admission  to  all  who  have 
not  received  a  non-professional  degree  aim  not  merely  to 
instruct  the  future  physicians  and  lawyers  in  the  technique 
of  their  professions,  but  to  give  them  true  scientific  insight 
and  philosophic  grasp. 

Until  there  is  agreement  as  to  the  true  function  of  a  uni- 
versity, there  cannot  be  agreement  as  to  their  organization 
and  administration.  Whoever  holds  to  the  Stanford  idea 
will  wish  to  see  all  departments  of  instruction  put  on  pre- 
cisely the  same  plane ;  whoever  believes  that  scientific 
research  is  the  highest  and  noblest  aim  of  education  will 
demand  for  the  university  an  organization  which  shall 
emphasize  this,  leaving  to  other  institutions  the  teaching 
which  is  entirely  practical. 

As  a  whole,  American  universities  seem  to  be  trying  to 
do  too  many  things  at  once,  generally  with  an  altogether 
inadequate  equipment  of  instructors,  and  with  an  insufficient 
endowment.  Each  university  aims  to  cover  the  entire  field 
of  instruction  ;  the  result  is  that  the  professors,  who  are, 
except  in  the  professional  faculties,  almost  always  college 
instructors  as  well,  are  cruelly  overburdened  with  teaching 
and  administrative  duties,  with  the  inevitable  result  that  few 
of  them  can  carry  on  much  research.  The  organization  of 
most  of  our  universities  is  too  complicated.  Many  profes- 
sors have  to  attend  two,  three,  or  even  four  faculty  meetings 
each  month,  and  serve  on  committees  without  number  ;  some 
of  them  are  even  expected  to  do  purely  clerical  work. 

Perhaps  the  most  important  of  American  university  prob- 
lems at  present,  as  bearing  directly  upon  the  necessary  organi- 
zation and  determining  it,  is  the  relation  of  university  or 
graduate  work  to  undergraduate  work  and  to  professional 
training. 

With  the  very  liberal  regulation,  often  lack  of  regulation, 
exercised  by  the  state  governments  over  the  practice  of  the 
professions  of  law  and  medicine,  the  number  of  practition- 
ers has  inevitably  become  excessively  great.  The  need  of 
stricter  control  has  been  seen,  and  many  states  have  increased 


309]  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  59 

the  requirements  for  admission  to  practice.  That  any  of  the 
states  will  require  a  complete  collegiate  education  as  a  pre- 
liminary to  admission  to  practice  is  a  very  remote  possibility. 
It  rests  with  the  universities  to  raise  the  plane  of  their  pro- 
fessional schools  so  that  only  the  fittest  will  survive.  Experi- 
ence has  shown  that  raising  the  standard  of  an  institution  is 
surely  followed  in  a  few  years  by  an  increase  in  numbers  as 
well  as  in  the  quality  of  students  entering.  A  beginning 
has  already  been  made,  as  indicated  above,  for  the  profes- 
sional schools  of  law  and  medicine.  As  for  the  technical 
schools,  most  of  them,  whether  connected  with  the  universi- 
ties or  not,  have  been  too  ready  to  admit  students  on  very 
slight  requirements.  Perhaps  in  time  the  best  of  these  will 
see  that  a  good  preliminary  training  ought  to  be  demanded 
of  their  students,  and  so  put  themselves  also  on  a  university 
level. 

Enough  has  been  said,  it  is  hoped,  to  show  that  there  is 
little  chance  of  re-establishing  in  any  American  university 
the  traditional  four  faculties,  unaccompanied  by  any  other 
departments  of  instruction.  If  means  were  abundant,  it 
would  perhaps  be  advisable  to  separate  entirely  from  the 
universities  the  technical  schools,  except  such  as  should  be 
willing  to  demand  a  preliminary  degree  for  admission  and 
to  develop  more  fully  the  theoretical  and  research  side  of 
their  teaching.  At  present  undue  prominence  is  given  to 
the  technical  schools  in  many  institutions,  largely  because 
they  are  the  best  paying  parts,  and  the  tone  of  the  whole 
institution,  as  an  organization  that  should  exist  as  largely 
for  the  advancement  of  research  as  for  any  other  cause,  is 
distinctly  lowered  thereby. 

The  graduate  school,  or  faculty  of  philosophy,  bears  closer 
relations  with  the  collegiate  course  than  can  be  borne  by 
any  professional  faculty.  The  overburdening  of  professors 
alluded  to  above  might  be  remedied  by  the  appointment, 
where  endowments  would  allow,  of  professors  exclusively 
for  graduate  work  on  the  lines  of  the  faculty  of  philosophy, 
who  should  be  able  to  engage  in  extended  research  work 


6o  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  [3IO 

with  advanced  students.  Hitherto  no  institution  has  been 
in  a  position  to  do  this  in  any  large  degree.  Nor  has  it 
been  possible  to  try  on  a  really  instructive  scale  the  experi- 
ment of  a  university  without  college  or  technical  schools. 
Whether  such  a  university  could  properly  maintain  a  faculty 
of  theology,  it  is  hard  to  say.  The  Union  theological  semi- 
nary in  New  York,  while  under  Presbyterian  management, 
is  in  many  respects  a  real  university  faculty,  and  the  same 
may  be  said  of  some  few  others.  The  relations  between 
Columbia  and  the  Union  seminary  have  become  close,  with 
the  good  result  that  many  students  of  the  latter  attend 
courses  at  Columbia  under  the  faculties  of  political  science 
and  philosophy,  and  are  eligible  for  Columbia  degrees. 

Concerning  the  precise  relation  to  be  borne  by  the  gradu- 
ate work  to  that  of  the  college,  no  general  agreement  has 
yet  been  reached.  Even  where  the  two  are  carefully  sepa- 
rated, no  such  great  dissimilarity  in  methods  exists  as  pre- 
vails in  Germany  between  the  gymnasium  and  the  university. 
Where,  as  at  Harvard,  the  lines  of  demarcation  are  partly 
obliterated,  the  change  from  one  method  to  another  is  very 
gradual.  Johns  Hopkins  aims  above  all  at  producing  spe- 
cialists, and  even  her  college  courses  are  largely  shaped  to 
this  end.     The  results  certainly  justify  her  policy. 

The  preparation  which  the  candidates  for  admission  to  the 
graduate  schools  bring  with  them  is  naturally  very  varied. 
For  many  kinds  of  advanced  work,  the  general  training 
given  in  the  college  is  not  enough ;  so  that  the  student,  in 
order  not  to  lose  much  valuable  time  afterward,  has  to  begin 
his  special  studies  before  receiving  his  first  degree.  This  is 
encouraged  by  the  system  in  vogue  at  Columbia,  especially 
in  the  case  of  students  looking  forward  to  medicine  or  the 
law.  A  tendency  to  over-early  specialization  is  showing 
itself  in  many  places ;  the  students  are  naturally  anxious  to 
begin  the  active  duties  of  life  as  soon  as  possible,  and  are 
unwilling  to  postpone  the  acquirement  of  the  professional 
degree  until  the  25th  or  26th  year  of  their  age.  A  remedy 
for  this  has  been  sought  in  several  directions,  but  none  of 


/ 

31 1]  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  6l 

the  plans  tried  has  been  successful  enough  to  prevail  over 
the  others.  The  trouble  seems  to  lie  largely  in  the  loss  of 
time  during  the  earlier  school  years.  The  pupils  are  not 
taken  in  hand  early  enough,  nor  do  they  receive  severe 
enough  training.  With  the  improvement  in  organization 
and  methods  which  is  everywhere  noticeable,  it  ought  to  be 
possible  after  a  few  years  to  send  young  men  and  women  to 
college  at  sixteen  as  well  prepared  as  they  are  now  at  seven- 
teen or  eighteen.  With  this  done,  the  college  course  might 
well  be  shortened  to  three  years. 

It  may  be  asked,  what  of  the  Lehrfreiheit  and  Lern- 
freiheit,  the  freedom  for  teacher  and  learner,  as  they  are 
claimed  for  the  universities  of  Germany,  in  those  of  Amer- 
ica ?  As  for  the  first,  the  American  university  professor  has 
little  cause  for  complaint ;  whatever  may  have  been  the  case 
twenty-five  years  ago,  he  may  now  teach  what  he  likes  nearly 
everywhere,  though  now  and  then  the  regents  of  a  state  uni- 
versity, or  the  religious  body  controlling  a  divinity  school, 
raise  noisy  protest.  In  one  respect  there  is  yet  much  room 
for  improvement :  as  yet  no  serious  effort  has  been  made  to 
introduce  one  of  the  most  valuable  features  of  the  German 
university  system,  the  system  of  Privatdozenten.  It  is  not 
yet  possible,  any  more  than  it  was  for  Bancroft  in  182 1,  for  a 
young  man  of  ability  to  secure  the  right  of  lecturing  at  a 
university  by  merely  proving  that  he  is  competent  to  do  it. 
The  introduction  of  this  custom  has  been  several  times 
attempted,  but  so  far  with  quite  insignificant  results. 

As  for  the  Lernfreiheit,  that  too  has  become  naturalized 
among  us ;  even  the  undergraduate  enjoys  a  large  measure 
of  it,  largest  in  those  colleges  where  the  elective  system  has 
taken  firm  root.  One  development  of  it,  the  migration  of 
students  from  one  university  to  another  without  loss  of 
standing,  is  still  unsatisfactory.  The  custom  is  highly 
desirable,  and  is  steadily  gaining  ground  in  America ;  it  is 
much  commoner  from  the  colleges  to  the  purely  profes- 
sional schools,  students  of  law  and  medicine  naturally  seek- 
ing the  large  cities ;  the  chief  obstacles  to  its  adoption  are 


62  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  [$12 

the  differences  between  the  various  universities  in  the  mat- 
ter of  organization  and  of  requirements  for  degrees,  and  the 
close  connection  between  college  and  university  which  lead 
the  college  graduate  in  many  instances  to  remain  for  gradu- 
ate work  where  he  has  taken  his  bachelor's  degree,  out  of 
pure  attachment  to  his  alma  mater.  According  to  a  writer 
in  the  Educational  Review,'  in  1892-3  at  Harvard  119  out 
of  206  graduate  students,  or  nearly  58  per  cent,  had  received 
degrees  at  other  institutions ;  at  Johns  Hopkins  201  out  of 
270,  or  74  per  cent;  at  Yale  59  out  of  125,  or  47  per  cent; 
at  Cornell  119  out  of  182,  or  65  per  cent;  at  Columbia 
(faculties  of  philosophy  and  political  science)  109  out  of 
212,  or  51  per  cent;  total  of  these  five,  607  out  of  995,  or 
61  per  cent.  In  1898-9,  however,  of  the  graduate  students 
registered  in  the  graduate  school  at  Harvard,  only  39  per 
cent  had  received  their  degrees  elsewhere ;  at  Yale  only  43 
per  cent. 

It  is  interesting  to  observe  how  rapidly  the  spirit  of  inde- 
pendence with  responsibility  is  developing  among  the  gradu- 
ate students.  At  twenty-two  or  more  institutions  which 
maintain  graduate  schools  the  students  in  these  have  formed 
themselves  into  associations  for  the  furtherance  of  their 
mutual  interests,  and  these  clubs  have  formed  a  national 
federation  which  holds  annual  meetings,  where  papers  are 
read,  and  questions  affecting  the  whole  range  of  graduate 
work  are  discussed.  The  interest  shown  in  these  proceed- 
ings, and  the  intelligent  spirit  in  which  many  important  ques- 
tions are  approached,  make  these  associations  into  a  most 
valuable  adjunct  to  the  work  of  the  graduate  schools.  At 
the  fourth  annual  convention,  held  at  Cambridge,  Mass.,  in 
December,  1898,  addresses  were  delivered  by  President  Eliot 
and  Professor  J.  W.  White,  of  Harvard,  and  papers  were 
read,  followed  by  animated  discussion,  on  the  following  top- 
ics :  The  migration  of  students ;  the  regulations  concerning 
major  and  minor  subjects  ;  specialized  scholarship  vs.  prepa- 
ration for  teaching,  as  a  basis  for  graduate  study  ;  the  mas- 

1  Gross,  Chas.,  E.  R.  VII,  26  ff. 


313]  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  63 

ter's  degree  ;  graduate  studies  in  European  universities ;  the 
regulation  of  graduate  to  undergraduate  courses.  The  fed- 
eration of  graduate  clubs  also  carries  on  a  determined  oppo- 
sition to  the  practice  of  conferring  the  Ph.  D.  honoris  causa. 
A  project  vigorously  advocated  by  many  eminent  Ameri- 
can educators  is  the  foundation  of  a  national  university  for 
the  United  States,  to  be  situated  at  Washington,  to  be  con- 
trolled by  a  board  of  regents  under  the  chairmanship  of  the 
president  of  the  United  States,  and  to  be  constituted  on  the 
true  university  basis  of  admitting  to  any  of  its  schools  only 
those  who  have  received  the  preliminary  training  shown  by 
the  possession  of  a  bachelor's  degree.  The  plan  is  an  allur- 
ing one  from  some  points  of  view.  The  chief  difficulty 
would  seem  to  be  in  the  matter  of  endowment.  To  add 
another  institution  of  learning  to  those  that  swarm  in  the 
United  States,  unless  the  new  comer  should  at  once  outrank 
them  all  in  the  magnitude  and  completeness  of  its  equip- 
ment, and  unless  its  rise  should  imply  the  setting  of  a  num- 
ber of  the  minor  lights,  would  be  a  very  doubtful  service  to 
the  cause  of  university  education.  So  far  no  endowments  at 
all  comparable  with  those  of  half-a-dozen  of  the  universities 
already  existing  have  appeared  ;  and  it  is  extremely  doubtful 
whether  congress  could  be  depended  upon  to  give  the  insti- 
tution the  thoroughly  adequate  support  without  which  it 
must  remain  at  best  one  additional  "  torso  of  a  university." 

Note:  Since  the  above  lines  were  written,  a  large  and  representative  committee 
appointed  by  the  National  Educational  Association  to  consider  the  question  has 
reported  against  the  establishment  of  such  a  national  university. 


64  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  [3 1 4 

APPENDIX  A 

Some  statistics  of  graduate  schools  in   the    United  States 

The  peculiarly  complicated  and  varying  organization  of 
the  American  college-university  makes  it  impracticable  to 
draw  up  satisfactory  tables  of  statistics  on  such  simple  lines 
as  would  suffice  if  the  universities  of  Germany,  for  instance, 
were  to  be  thus  treated.  Only  such  figures  are  given  here 
as  suffice  to  show  the  rapid  increase  in  the  numbers  of 
graduate,  non-professional  students  during  the  last  twenty- 
eight  years,  and  the  attendance  at  the  best  known  institu- 
tions in  1898-99 : 

I 

Number  of  graduate  students  [excluding  professional  schools)  i8yi~8y 


1871-72 198 

1874-75 369 

1877-78 414 


1880-81 460 

1883-84 778 

1886-87 I  237 


II 

Attendance  of  graduate  students  {exclusive  of  professional  schools) 

i88g-97 

1889-90 I  998  graduate  students  at  1 14  institutions. 

1891-92 2900        "  "  "   121  " 

1893-94 3026        "  "  "   135  " 

1895-96 3756        "  "  "    122  " 

1896-97 4392         "  "  "   146  " 

Note:  It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  (except  for  1889-90)  no  account  is  here 
taken  of  non-resident  graduate  students,  and  that  an  overwhelming  majority  of 
graduate  students  is  to  be  found  in  attendance  at  the  23  institutions  mentioned  in 
Table  III.  A  very  great  number  of  institutions  report  less  than  half-a-dozen 
graduate  students. 


315] 


THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY 


65 


III 

Statistics  of  the  23  most  prominent  institutions  reporting  graduate 

students,  i8g8-g  ^ 


1.  Brown  university 

2.  Bryn  Mawr  college 

3.  University  of  California 

4.  University  of  Chicago 

5.  Clark  university 

6.  Columbia  university  (including  Barnard 

college)  

7.  Columbian      university      (Washington, 

(D.C). 

8.  Cornell  university 

9.  Harvard  university 


10.  Johns  Hopkins  university 

11.  Leland  Stanford,  Jr.,  university 

12.  University  of  Michigan 

13.  University  of  Minnesota 

14.  University  of  Missouri 

15.  New  York  university 

16.  University  of  Pennsylvania 

17.  Princeton  university 

18.  Radcliffe  college  (closely  connected  with 

Harvard) 

19.  Vanderbilt  university 

20.  Wellesley  college 

21.  Western  Reserve  university • . . 

22.  University  of  Wisconsin 

23.  Yale  university 


36 

25 

40 

130 

10 


95 

26 
328« 
130 


64 

32 
45 
35 
18 

27 
55 
37 

57 

4 

47 


31 

47 

112 


Graduate  stu- 
dents (exclud- 
ing  profes- 
SIONAL schools) 


30 

o 

lOI 

581 
48 


260 


59 
109' 

329 


58 

49 
104 

18 

124 
124 

128 

o 

31 

o 


16 

102 
241 


39 

61 

90 

276 


82 


33' 
o 


39 
17 
52 

7 
35 
34 

o 

58 

6 

27 


12 
26 
42 


69 

61 

191 

857 

48 


342 

68 
142' 
329 


210 

97 
66 

156 
25 
159 
158 
128 

58 
37 
27 


28 
128 
283 


Remarks 


Women  only 

Includ'g  sum- 
mer quarter 

Women  not 
admitted 

Women  ad- 
mitted thro' 
Barnard 


Women  ad- 
mitted to 
some  cour- 
ses and  only 
thro'  R  ad- 
cliff  e;  de- 
gree  of  A. 
M.  given  by 
Radcliff  e. 
Ph.  D.,  not 
given  to 
women 

Women  not 
admitted 


Women    not 

admitted 
Women  only 

Women  only; 
Ph.  D.  not 
given 


'The  figures  are  taken  (except  for  Cornell)  from  the  "Graduate  Handbook' 
for  1899. 

•Including  professional  schools. 


^66  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  [3 1 6 

APPENDIX  B 
Brief  bibliography 

The  chief  source  of  information  concerning  all  educational 
matters  in  the  United  States  is  the  admirable  series  of  reports 
of  the  commissioner  of  education,  issued  from  the  United 
States  bureau  of  education,  Washington,  D.  C.  These  are 
issued  for  each  academic  year  {i.  e.,  September-June),  gen- 
erally within  two  years  after  the  close  of  the  academic  year 
for  which  the  report  is  drawn  up.  The  last  issued  to  date 
(October,  1899)  is  the  report  for  1896-7.  These  contain 
not  only  exhaustive  statistics,  but  also  reviews  of  the  educa- 
tional progress  of  the  year,  and  valuable  articles  by  various 
writers  on  educational  questions  at  home  and  abroad. 

Of  accounts  of  the  American  system  of  higher  education 
the  following  may  be  reported  here : 

Compayr^,  G.  L  'enseignement  sup^rieur  aux  Etats-Unis.  Paris, 
1896.  (Rapports  de  la  ddl^gation  envoy^e  a  1' Exposition  Col- 
ombienne  de  Chicago.     1893,  ire  partie.) 

de  Coubertin,  Pierre.  Universit^s  Transatlantiques.  Paris,  1890. 
(Largely  impressions  de  voyage^ 

Zimmermann,  Athanasius,  S.  J.  Die  Universitaten  in  den  Ver- 
einigten  Staaten  Amerikas.  Ein  Beitrag  zur  Culturgeschichte. 
Freiburg,  Baden,  1896.  (Erganzungshefte  zu  den  "  Stimmen  aus 
Maria  Laach."  No.  68,  XVII.  Erganzungsband.)  An  excellent 
account  in  brief  compass,  with  a  selected  bibliography. 

Bryce,  James.     The  American  Commonwealth.     N.  Y.  Vol.  II. 

Schoenfeld,  H.  Amerikanische  Staatsuniversitaten.  Article  in 
the  Padagogisches  Archiv,  Vol.  XXXVIII  (1896). 

Report  of  Commissioner  of  Education.     1889-90,  vol.  II,  p.  783  ff. 

(On  organization  of  the  state  universities.) 

Thwing,  C.  F.     The  American  College  in  American  Life. 
Tappan,  H.  P.     University  Education.     N.  Y.,  185 1. 

Burgess,  J.  W.  The  American  University :  When  shall  it  be? 
Where  shall  it  be?  What  shall  it  be?     Boston,  1884. 

Haven,  E.  O.     Universities  in  America.     Ann  Arbor,  1863. 


317]  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  67 

Johnston,  W.  P.     Work  of  the  University  in  America.     Address 

before  the  South  Carolina  college.     Columbia,  S.  C,  1884. 
Butler,   N.  M.     Introduction  to  Paulsen's   German  Universities, 

Engl,  translation.     N.  Y.,  1895. 
Howard,  G.  E.     Evolution  of  the  University.     Lincoln,  Nebraska, 

1890. 
The  American   University  and   the  American    Man.     Palo 

Alta,  Cal.,  1893. 
Eliot,  C.  W.     Educational  Reform.     Essays  and  addresses.    N.  Y., 

1898. 
Ladd,  G.  T.     Essays  on  the  Higher  Education.     N.  Y.,  1899. 

For  the  history  and  development  of  the  individual  univer- 
sities the  "  annual  catalogues  "  or  "  registers  "  published  by 
the  institutions  themselves  often  give  valuable  material.  In 
some  of  the  universities  it  is  the  custom  to  publish  the 
**  annual  reports  "  of  the  president  or  chancellor ;  these  are 
of  great  importance  for  an  understanding  of  the  policy  of 
the  university  in  question.  Harvard,  Columbia,  Johns 
Hopkins  and  others  publish  such  reports  —  an  example 
worthy  of  imitation  by  every  large  institution  of  learning. 

The  Federation  of  graduate  clubs  has  published  several 
small  volumes  of  great  interest.  These  at  first  gave  merely 
the  courses  offered  to  graduate  students  at  the  most  promi- 
nent institutions;  but  the  Graduate  handbook  for  1899 
(printed  for  the  federation  by  Lippincott,  1899  —  unfortu- 
nately not  in  the  market)  contains  the  proceedings  of  the 
meeting  at  Cambridge  alluded  to  on  p.  62. 

In  the  successive  volumes  of  the  Educational  review  (N. 

Y.,  1 89 1 )  will  be  found  many  valuable  articles  on  a  wide 

range  of  topics  connected  with  American  university  educa- 
tion, e.  g. :  Davis,  H.,  Limitations  of  state  universities,  I, 
426  ff.  Butler,  N.  M.,  On  permitting  students  to  take  studies 
in  professional  schools  while  pursuing  a  regular  undergradu. 
ate  course,  III,  54  fT.  Jordan,  D.  S.,  The  policy  of  the  Stan- 
ford university,  IV,  i  if ;  The  educational  ideas  of  Leland 
Stanford,  VI,  136  fT.  Hyde,  W.  D.,  Organization  of  Ameri- 
can education,  IV,  209  ff.     Coulter,  J.  M.,  The  university 


68  THE  AMERICAN  UNIVERSITY  [3 1 8 

spirit,  IV,  366  ff.  Low,  Seth,  Higher  education  in  the  U. 
S.,  V,  I  ff.  von  Hoist,  H.  E.,  The  need  of  universities  in  the 
U.  S.  (the  famous  Chicago  address),  V,  105  ff.  Gross,  Chas., 
Colleges  and  universities  in  the  U.  S.,  VH,  26  ff.  Santa- 
yana,  G.,  Spirit  and  ideals  of  Harvard  univ.,  VH,  313  ff. 
Taylor,  J.  M.,  Graduate  work  in  the  college,  VH,  62  ff. 
Hinsdale,  B.  A.,  Spirit  and  ideals  of  the  University  of 
Michigan,  XI,  356  ff.,  476  ff.  Baird,  W.,  The  University  of 
Virginia,  XII,  417  ff.  Draper,  A.  S.,  State  universities  of 
the  middle  west,  XI,  313  ff.  Edgren,  H.,  American  gradu- 
ate schools,  XV,  285.  Anon.,  The  status  of  the  American 
professor,  XVI,  417  ff.  In  vol.  XVI,  pp.  503  ff.,  is  repro- 
duced an  interesting  article  published  in  the  London  Spec- 
tator of  Feb.  12,  1898,  entitled.  What  is  a  university? 


Department   of  Education 

FOR  THE 

IJnited   States   Commission   to   the   Paris   Exposition   of   1900 


MONOGRAPHS    ON     EDUCATION 

IN  THS 

UNITKD     STATKS 

edited  by 

NICHOLAS  MURRAY  BUTLER 

Professor  of  Philosophy  and  Education  in  Columbia  University,  New  York 


EDUCATION   OF   WOMEN 


BY 


M.  CAREY  THOMAS 

President  of  Bryn  Mawr  College,  Bryn  Mawr,  Pennsylvania 


This  Monooraph  is  contributed  to  the  United  States  Educational  Exhibit  by  the 

State  of  New  York 


EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN 


The  higher  education  of  women  in  America  is  taking  place 
before  our  eyes  on  a  vast  scale  and  in  a  variety  of  ways. 
Every  phase  of  this  great  experiment,  if  experiment  we  choose 
to  call  it,  may  be  studied  almost  simultaneously.  Women 
are  taking  advantage  of  all  the  various  kinds  of  education 
offered  them  in  great  and  ever-increasing  numbers,  and  the 
period  of  thirty  years,  or  thereabouts,  that  has  elapsed  since 
the  beginning  of  the  movement  is  sufficient  to  authorize  us 
in  drawing  certain  definite  conclusions.  The  higher  educa- 
tion of  women  naturally  divides  itself  into  college  educa- 
tion designed  primarily  to  train  the  mental  faculties  by 
means  of  a  liberal  education,  and  only  secondarily,  to  equip  the 
student  for  self-support,  and  professional  or  special  educa- 
tion, directed  primarily  toward  one  of  the  money-making 
occupations. 

COLLEGE    EDUCATION 

Women's  college  education  is  carried  on  in  three  different 
classes  of  institutions :  coeducational  colleges,  independent 
women's  colleges  and  women's  colleges  connected  more  or 
less  closely  with  some  one  of  the  colleges  for  men. 

I.  Coeducation  —  Coeducation  is  th6  prevailing  system  of 
college  education  in  the  United  States  for  both  men  and 
women.  In  the  western  states  and  territories  it  is  almost 
the  only  system  of  education,  and  it  is  rapidly  becoming  the 
prevailing  system  in  the  south,  where  the  influence  of  the 
state  universities  is  predominant.  On  the  other  hand,  in  the 
New  England  and  middle  states  the  great  majority  of  the 
youth  of  both  sexes  are  still  receiving  a  separate  college 
education.  Coeducation  was  introduced  into  colleges  in 
the  west  as  a  logical  consequence  of  the  so-called  Ameri- 
can system  of  free  elementary  and  secondary  schools. 
During  the  great  school  revival  of  1830-45  and  the  ensu- 
ing years  until  the  outbreak  of  the  civil  war  in  1861,  free 


4  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  [322 

elementary  and  secondary  schools  were  established  through- 
out New  England  and  the  middle  states  and  such  western 
states  as  existed  in  those  days.  It  was  a  fortunate  circum- 
stance for  girls  that  the  country  was  at  that  time  sparsely 
settled ;  in  most  neighborhoods  it  was  so  difficult  to  estab- 
lish and  secure  pupils  for  even  one  grammar  school  and  one 
high  school  that  girls  were  admitted  from  the  first  to  both/ 
In  the  reorganization  of  lower  and  higher  education  that  took 
place  between  1865  and  1870  this  same  system,  bringing  with 
it  the  complete  coeducation  of  the  sexes,  was  introduced 
throughout  the  south  both  for  whites  and  negroes,  and  was 
extended  to  every  part  of  the  west.  In  no  part  of  the 
country,  except  in  a  few  large  eastern  cities,  was  any  dis- 
tinction made  in  elementary  or  secondary  education  between 
boys  and  girls."  The  second  fortunate  and  in  like  manner 
almost    accidental    factor   in    the    education    of   American 

'  That  their  admission  was  due  in  large  part  to  the  stress  of  circumstances  is 
shown  by  the  fact  that  in  the  very  states  in  which  these  coeducational  schools 
had  been  established  there  was  manifested  on  other  occasions  a  most  illib- 
eral attitude  toward  girls'  education.  In  the  few  cities  of  the  Atlantic  sea- 
board, where  European  conservatism  was  too  strong  to  allow  girls  to  be  taught 
with  boys  in  the  new  high  schools,  and  where  there  were  boys  enough  to  fill  the 
schools,  girls  had  to  wait  much  longer  before  their  needs  were  provided 
for  at  all,  and  then  most  inadequately.  In  Boston,  where  the  boys'  and  girls' 
high  schools  were  separated,  it  was  impossible  until  1878  for  a  Boston  girl  to  be 
prepared  for  college  in  a  city  high  school,  whereas,  in  the  country  towns  of  Massa- 
chusetts, where  boys  and  girls  were  taught  together  in  the  high  schools,  the  girl 
had  had  the  same  opportunities  as  the  boy  for  twenty-five  or  thirty  years.  Indeed, 
it  was  not  until  1852  that  Boston  girls  obtained,  and  then  only  in  connection  with 
the  normal  school,  a  public  high-school  education  of  any  kind  whatsoever.  In 
Philadelphia,  where  boys  and  girls  are  taught  separately  in  the  high  schools,  no 
girl  could  be  prepared  for  college  before  1893,  neither  Latin,  French,  nor  German 
being  taught  in  the  girls'  high  school,  whereas,  for  many  years  the  boys'  high  school 
had  prepared  boys  for  college.  In  Baltimore  the  two  girls'  high  schools  are  still, 
in  1900,  unable  to  prepare  girls  for  college,  whereas  the  boys'  high  school  has  for 
years  prepared  boys  to  enter  the  Johns  Hopkins  university.  The  impossibility  of 
preparing  girls  for  college  is  only  another  way  of  stating  that  the  instruction 
given  is  very  imperfect. 

'  The  magnitude  of  this  fact  vriil  be  apparent  if  we  reflect  that  here  for  the  first 
time  the  girls  of  a  great  nation,  especially  of  the  poorer  classes,  have  from  their 
earliest  infancy  to  the  age  of  eighteen  or  nineteen  received  the  same  education  as 
the  boys,  and  that  the  ladder  leading,  in*Huxley's  words,  from  the  gutter  to  the 
university  may  be  climbed  as  easily  by  a  girl  as  by  a  boy.  Although  college  edu- 
cation has  affected  as  yet  only  a  very  few  out  of  the  great  number  of  adult  women 
in  the  United  States,  the  free  opportunities  for  secondary  education  have  influenced 


323]  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  5 

women  was  the  occurrence  of  the  civil  war  at  the  forma- 
tive period  of  the  public  schools,  with  the  result  of  placing 
the  elementary  and  secondary  education  of  both  boys  and 
girls  overwhelmingly  in  the  hands  of  women  teachers. 
In  no  other  country  of  the  world  has  this  ever  been  the 
case,  and  its  influence  upon  women's  education  has 
been  very  great.  The  five  years  of  the  civil  war,  which 
drained  all  the  northern  and  western  states  of  men, 
caused  women  teachers  to  be  employed  in  the  public 
and  private  schools  in  large  numbers,  and  in  the  first 
reports  of  the  national  bureau  of  education,  organized 
after  the  war,  we  see  that  there  were  already  fewer  men 
than  women  teaching  in  the  public  schools  of  the  United 
States.  This  result  proved  not  to  be  temporary,  but  per- 
manent, and  from  1865  until  the  present  time  not  only  the 
elementary  teaching  of  boys  and  girls  but  the  secondary 
education  of  both  has  been  increasingly  in  the  hands  of 
women.'  When  most  of  the  state  universities  of  the  west 
were  founded  they  were  in  reality  scarcely  more  than  second- 
ary schools  supplemented,  in  most  cases,  by  large  prepara- 
tory departments.  Girls  were  already  being  educated  with 
boys  in  all  the  high  schools  of  the  west,  and  not  to  admit 
them  to  the  state  universities  would  have  been  to  break  with 

the  whole  American  people  for  nearly  two-thirds  of  a  century.  The  men  of  the 
poorer  classes  have  had,  as  a  rule,  mothers  as  well  educated  as  their  fathers, 
indeed,  better  educated  ;  to  this,  more  than  to  any  other  single  cause,  I  think, 
may  be  attributed  what  by  other  nations  is  regarded  as  the  phenomenal  indus- 
trial progress  of  the  United  States.  Our  commercial  rivals  could  probably  take 
no  one  step  that  would  so  tend  to  place  them  on  a  level  with  American  competi- 
tion as  to  open  to  girls  without  distinction  all  their  elementary  and  secondary 
schools  for  boys.  In  1892,  girls  formed  55.9  per  cent,  and  in  1898,  56.5  per  cent  of 
all  pupils  in  the  public  and  private  secondary  schoools  of  the  United  States. 

'In  1870  women  formed  59.0  per  cent ;  in  1880,  57.2  per  cent  ;  in  1890,  65.5  per 
cent  ;  and  in  1898,  67.8  per  cent  (in  the  North  Atlantic  Division  80.8  per  cent)  of 
all  teachers  in  the  public  elementary  and  secondary  schools  of  the  United  States 
(U.  S.  ed.  rep.  for  1897-98,  pp.  xiii,  Ixxv).  It  has  been  frequently  remarked  that 
the  feminine  pronouns  "she"  and  "her"  are  instinctively  used  in  America  in 
common  speech  with  reference  to  a  teacher.  Moreover  more  women  than  men 
are  teaching  in  the  public  and  private  secondary  schools  of  the  United  States  (in 
1898,  women  formed  53.8  per  cent  of  the  total  number  of  secondary  teachers,  see 
U.  S.  ed,  rep.  for  1897-98,  pp.  2053,  2069);  whereas  in  all  other  countries  the  sec- 
ondary teaching  of  boys  is  wholly  in  the  hands  of  men. 


6  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  [324 

tradition.  Women  were  also  firmly  established  as  teachers 
in  the  secondary  schools  and  it  was  patent  to  all  thoughtful 
men  that  they  must  be  given  opportunities  for  higher  edu- 
cation, if  only  for  the  sake  of  the  secondary  education  of 
the  boys  of  the  country/  The  development  of  women's 
education  in  the  east  has  followed  a  different  course  because 
there  were  in  the  east  no  state  universities,  and  the  private 
colleges  for  men  had  been  founded  before  women  were  suf- 
fered to  become  either  pupils  or  teachers  in  schools.  The 
admission  of  women  to  the  existing  eastern  colleges  was, 
therefore,  as  much  an  innovation  as  it  would  have  been  in 
Europe.  The  coeducation  of  men  and  women  in  colleges, 
and  at  the  same  time  the  college  education  of  women,  began 
in  Ohio,  the  earliest  settled  of  the  western  states.  In  1833 
Oberlin  collegiate  institute  (not  chartered  as  a  college  until 
1850)  was  opened,  admitting  from  the  first  both  men  and 
women.  Oberlin  was  at  that  time,  and  is  now,  hampered 
by  maintaining  a  secondary  school  as  large  as  its  college 
department,  but  it  was  the  first  institution  for  collegiate 
instruction  in  the  United  States  where  large  numbers  of 
men  and  women  were  educated  together,  and  the  uniformly 
favorable  testimony  of  its  faculty  had  great  influence  on 
the  side  of  coeducation.  In  1853  Antioch  college,  also  in 
Ohio,  was  opened,  and  admitted  from  the  beginning  men 
and  women  on  equal  terms.  Its  first  president,  Horace 
Mann,  was  one  of  the  most  brilliant  and  energetic  educa- 
tional leaders  in  the  United  States,  and  his  ardent  advocacy 
of  coeducation,  based  on  his  own  practical  experience,  had 
great  weight  with  the  public.^  From  this  time  on  it  became 
a  custom,  as  state  universities  were  opened  in  the  far  west, 
to  admit  women.  Utah,  opened  in  1850,  Iowa,  opened  in 
1856,  Washington,  opened  in  1862,  Kansas,  opened  in  1866, 

'  In  many  cases  in  the  west  women  made  their  way  into  the  universities  through 
the  normal  department  of  the  university,  being  admitted  to  that  first  of  all.  The 
summer  schools  of  western  colleges,  chiefly  attended  by  teachers,  among  whom 
women  were  in  the  majority,  served  also  as  an  entering  wedge.  (See  Woman's 
work  in  America,  Holt  &  Co.,  1891,  pp.  71-75.) 

'Antioch  college  opened,  however,  with  only  8  students  in  its  college  depart' 
ment,  all  the  rest,  142,  belonging  to  its  secondary  school. 


325]  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  7 

Minnesota,  opened  in  1868,  and  Nebraska,  opened  in  1871, 
were  coeducational  from  the  outset.  Indiana,  opened  as 
early  as  1820,  admitted  women  in  1868.  The  state  Univer- 
sity of  Michigan  was,  at  this  time,  the  most  important  west- 
ern university,  and  the  only  western  university  well  known 
in  the  east  before  the  war.  When,  in  1870,  it  opened  its 
doors  to  women,  they  were  for  the  first  time  in  America 
admitted  to  instruction  of  true  college  grade.  The  step 
was  taken  in  response  to  public  sentiment,  as  shown  by 
two  requests  of  the  state  legislature,  against  the  will  of 
the  faculty  as  a  whole.  The  example  of  the  University 
of  Michigan  was  quickly  followed  by  all  the  other  state  uni- 
versities of  the  west.  In  the  same  year  women  were  allowed 
to  enter  the  state  universities  of  Illinois  and  California ;  in 
1873  the  only  remaining  state  university  closed  to  women, 
that  of  Ohio,  admitted  them.  Wisconsin  which,  since  i860, 
had  given  some  instruction  to  women,  became  in  1874  unre- 
servedly coeducational.  All  the  state  universities  of  the 
west,  organized  since  1871,  have  admitted  women  from  the 
first.  In  the  twenty  states  which,  for  convenience,  I  shall 
classify  as  western,  there  are  now  twenty  state  universities 
open  to  women,  and,  in  four  territories,  Arizona,  Oklahoma, 
Indian  and  New  Mexico,  the  one  university  of  each  territory 
is  open  to  women.  Of  the  eleven  state  universities  of  the 
southern  states  the  two  most  western  admitted  women  first, 
as  was  to  be  expected.  Missouri  became  coeducational  as 
early  as  1870,  and  the  University  of  Texas  was  opened  in 
1883  as  a  coeducational  institution.  Mississippi  admitted 
women  in  1882,  Kentucky  in  1889,  Alabama  in  1893,  South 
Carolina  in  1894,  North  Carolina  in  1897,  but  only  to 
women  prepared  to  enter  the  junior  and  senior  years.  West 
Virginia  in  1897.'  The  state  universities  of  Virginia, 
Georgia  and  Louisiana  are  still  closed.  The  one  state 
university  existing  outside  the  west  and  south,  that  of 
Maine,  admitted  women  in  1872. 

*  In  every  case  I  give  the  date  when  full  coeducation  was  introduced  ;  West  Vir- 
ginia, for  example,  admitted  women  to  limited  privileges  in  1889. 


8  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  [326 

The  greater  part  of  the  college  education  of  the  United 
States,  however,  is  carried  on  in  private,  not  in  state  univer- 
sities. In  1897  over  70  per  cent  of  all  the  college  students  in 
the  United  States  were  studying  in  private  colleges,  so  that 
for  women's  higher  education  their  admission  to  private 
colleges  is  really  a  matter  of  much  greater  importance. 
The  part  taken  by  Cornell  university  in  New  York  state 
in  opening  private  colleges  to  women  was  as  significant 
as  the  part  taken  by  Michigan  in  opening  state  universities. 
Cornell  is  in  a  restricted  sense  a  state  university,  inas- 
much as  part  of  its  endowment,  like  that  of  the  state 
universities,  is  derived  from  state  and  national  funds.  Nev- 
ertheless, there  is  little  reason  to  suppose  that  Cornell 
would  have  admitted  women  had  it  not  been  for  the 
generosity  of  Henry  W.  Sage,  who  offered  to  build  and 
endow  a  large  hall  of  residence  for  women  at  Cornell 
university.  After  carefully  investigating  coeducation  in 
all  the  institutions  where  it  then  existed,  and  especi- 
ally in  Michigan,  the  trustees  of  the  university  admitted 
women  in  1872.  The  example  set  by  Cornell  was  fol- 
lowed very  slowly  by  the  other  private  colleges  of  the  New 
England  and  middle  states.  For  the  next  twenty  years  the 
colleges  in  this  section  of  the  United  States  admitting 
women  might  be  counted  on  the  fingers  of  one  hand.  In 
Massachusetts  Boston  university  opened  its  department  of 
arts  in  1873,  ^^^  admitted  women  to  it  from  the  first ; 
but  no  college  for  men  followed  the  example  of  Boston  until 
1883,  when  the  Massachusetts  institute  of  technology,  the 
most  important  technical  and  scientific  school  in  the  state, 
and  one  of  the  most  important  in  the  United  States,  admit- 
ted women.  This  school,  like  Cornell,  is  supported  in  part 
from  state  and  national  funds.  Very  recently,  in  1892,  Tufts 
college  was  opened  to  women.  In  the  west  and  south  the 
case  is  different,  and  the  list  of  private  colleges  that  one 
after  another  have  become  coeducational  is  too  long  to  be 
inserted  here.  Among  new  coeducational  foundations  the 
most  important  are,  on  the  Pacific  coast,  the  Leland  Stan- 


I     20  western  states  and  j  territories 


STATES 

Total 
no.  cols 

Coed. 

Men  only 

Ohio 

3S 

31 
II 
10 
9 
22 

12 
19 

3 

I 

4 

I 
2 

I 
I 

9 
8 
12 
2 

I 

29 

9 

34 

10 

7 

7 

20 

3 
6 
II 
17 

3 

I 

3 

I 
2 
I 
I 
7 
8 
9 
2 
I 

3  R.  C,  I  Luth.,  I  P.  E.,  Western  reserve. 
2  R.  C,  I  Luth.,  I  Cong.,  Wabash  college. 
5  R.  C,  I  Ger.  Ev.,  Illinois  college. 
I  R  C 

I  R.  C,  I  Luth. 

North  Dakota 

South  Dakota 

1  R.  C.  (professional  dept.  open) 

2  R.  C. 

I  R.  C. 

Utah 

2  R.  C. 

3R.  C. 

Indian  Territory 

217 

182 

22  R.  C,  6  Luth.,  I  Ger.  Ev.,  i  Dutch.  Ref.,  i  P.  E.,  i  Cong. 

II     i^  southern  and  2  southern  fniddle  states 


STATES 

Total 
no.  cols 

Coed. 

Men  only 

2 

II 
6 
10 

3 
IS 

9 
II 

6 
13 
24 

9 

4 

9 
16 

8 
26 

I 

4 
3 

4 

3 
10 

7 
6 

5 
9 
20 

7 

2 

3 
12 

8 
21 

Delavkfare    college.     (The    one   coeducational    college    is    for 

negroes.) 
4   R.   C,  St.  John's,  Maryland  agric.  college,  Johns  Hopkins. 
3  R.  C. 
2   M.   E.   So.,   Univ.  of  Virginia,  Hampden-Sidney,  Waihing- 

ton  and  Lee,  William  and  Mary. 

I  R.  C,  2  Presb.,  i  Luth.,  i  Bapt. 

1  A.  M.  E.,  College  of  Charleston. 

2  Bapt.,  I  A.  M.  E.,  I  M.  E.  So.,  Univ.  of  Georgia. 
I  R.  C. 

District  of  Columbia. 
Virginia 

West  Virginia 

North  Carolina 

South  Carolina 

Florida 

I  R.  C,  I  Bapt.,  I  Presb.,  Ogden  college. 

1  R.  C,  2  Presb.,  i  P.  E.(Univ.  of  South.) 

2  R.  C. 

1  Bapt.,  I  M.  E.  So. 

2  R.  C,  I  M.  E.  So.,  I  Cong.,  Louisiana  State  univ.,  Tulane. 

3  R.  C,  I  Presb. 

3  R.  C,  I  Bapt.,  I  Presb. 

182 

125 

21  R.  C,  5  M.  E.  So.,  6  Bapt.,  7  Presb.,  i  Luth.,  2  A.  M.  E.,  i 
P.  E.,  I  Cong. 

Ill     6  New  England  and  J  northern  middle  states 


STATES 

Total 
no.  cols 

Coed. 

,                                 Men  only 

4 
2 

3 
9 

I 

3 
23 

4 
32 

2 

2 
2 

I 
S 

17 

I  Bapt.  (Colby,  limited  coed.),  Bowdoin 

1  R.  C,  I  Cong.  (Dartmouth) 
Norwich  university 

2  R.  C,  2  Cong.  (Amherst),  Harvard,  Williams,  Clark 
Brown 

1  P.  E.  (Trinity),  Yale 

8  R.  C,  2  P.  E.  (Hobart).  i  Bapt.  (Colgate),  Polytechnic  institute 
of  Brooklyn,  Hamilton,  College  of  City  of  New  York  (boys' 
high  school),   Columbia,  Union,   Rochester,  New   York   uni- 
versity 

2  R.  C,  I  Dutch  Ref.  (Rutgers),  Princeton 

4  R.  C,  I  Luth.,  I  Moravian,  i  Friends  (Haverford),  i  Dutch 
Ref.  (Franklin  &  Marshall),  Pennsylvania  military  college, 
Philadelphia  central  high  school  (boys'  high  school),  Lehigh 
university.  University  of  Pennsylvania,  3  Presb.  (Lafayette, 
Washington  &  Jefferson,  Lincoln) 

New  Hampshire 

Massachusetts 

Rhode  Island 

New  Jersey 

Pennsylvania 

81 

29 

17  R.  C,  I  Luth.,  3  P.  E.,  3  Cong.,  3  Presb.,  2  Bapt.,  i  Friends,  2 
Dutch  Ref.,  I  Moravian    (The  Univ.  of  Penna.  admits  women 
to  many  departments,   but   not   to  full  undergraduate  work 
leading  to  the  bachelor's  degree) 

327]  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  9 

ford  junior  university,  opened  in  1891,  and,  in  the  middle 
west,  Chicago  university,  opened  in  1892.  To  show  the 
differing  attitude  toward  coeducation  of  the  different  sec- 
tions of  the  United  States,  I  have  arranged  the  480  coedu- 
cational colleges  and  separate  colleges  for  men  given  in  the 
U,  S.  education  report  for  1897-98  in  a  table  on  the  opposite 
page.  In  matters  like  women's  education,  which  are  power- 
fully affected  by  prejudice  and  conservative  opinion,  we  find 
not  only  a  sharp  cleavage  in  opinion  and  practice  between 
the  west  and  the  east  of  the  United  States,  but  also  dis- 
tinct phases  of  differing  opinion,  corresponding  in  the 
main  to  the  old  geographical  division  of  the  states  into 
New  England,  middle,  southern  and  western.' 

In  the  western  states  it  will  be  observed  there  are,  excluding  Roman 
Catholic  colleges  and  seminaries,  out  of  195  colleges  182  coeducational 
and  only  13  colleges  for  men  only.  All  of  these  except  3  are  denomina- 
tional ;  6  belong  to  the  Lutheran,  i  to  the  Dutch  Reformed,  i  to  the  Ger- 
man Evangelical,  i  to  the  Episcopalian,  and  i  to  the  Congregationalist. 
The  other  3  are,  as  we  might  expect,  in  the  most  eastern  and  the  earliest 
settled  of  the  western  states;  one  in  Ohio,  Western  reserve,  which  teaches 
women  in  a  separate  women's  college;  one  in  Indiana,  Wabash  college, 
one  of  the  three  most  important  colleges  in  Indiana;  and  one  in  Illinois, 
Illinois  college.  Roman  Catholic  institutions  apart,  in  14  states  and  all 
3  territories  every  college  for  men  is  open  to  women  (the  one  university 
of  the  territory  of  New  Mexico,  not  included  in  the  U.  S.  education 
report,  is  open  to  women).  In  the  southern  states  and  southern  middle 
states  there  are,  excluding  Roman  Catholic  colleges  and  seminaries,  out 
of  161, 125  coeducational  and  only  36  colleges  for  men  only.  Among  these 
36,  however,  are  the  most  important  educational  institution  in  Maryland, 
the  Johns  Hopkins  university;  the  most  important  in  Georgia,  the  Uni- 

■  In  discussing  coeducation  I  shall,  therefore,  disregard  the  divisions  into  north 
Atlantic,  south  Atlantic,  north  central,  south  central  and  western,  employed  by 
the  U.  S.  census  and  the  U.  S.  bureau  of  education.  The  New  England,  middle 
and  southern  states  are  all,  of  course,  eastern,  and,  with  the  exception  of  Ver- 
mont, West  Virginia,  Kentucky,  Tennessee  and  Missouri,  are  all  seaboard  states, 
Pennsylvania  being  counted  as  a  seaboard  state  on  account  of  its  close  river  con. 
nection  with  the  sea.  It  will  be  noted  that  the  inland  southern  states  are  rather 
western  than  eastern  in  their  characteristics.  The  northern  middle  states  belong 
on  the  whole  by  their  sympathies  to  New  England,  the  southern  middle  to  the 
southern  states.  Missouri,  having  been  a  slave  state  and  settled  largely  by 
southerners,  is  still  southern  in  feeling.  The  District  of  Columbia  also  may  con- 
veniently be  counted  with  the  southern  states. 


lO  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  [328 

versity  of  Georgia;  in  Louisiana  the  two  most  important,  the  Louisiana 
state  university  and  Tulane  university,  and  in  Virginia  the  very  import- 
ant University  of  Virginia.*  Roman  Catholic  institutions  apart,  all 
the  colleges  in  the  states  of  Alabama,  Arkansas,  Florida  and  West 
Virginia  are  coeducational.  In  New  England  and  the  northern  mid- 
dle states  out  of  64  colleges,  excluding  Roman  Catholic  colleges  and 
seminaries,  only  29,  or  less  than  half,  are  coeducational.  The  col- 
leges for  men  only  include  (with  the  exception  of  Cornell)  all  the 
largest  undergraduate  colleges  in  this  section  —  Harvard,  Yale,  Colum- 
bia, Princeton,  Pennsylvania.  Maine  and  Vermont  are  liberal  to  women, 
2  colleges  (3  if  we  count  the  limited  coeducational  college  of  Colby)  in 
Maine  and  3  in  Vermont  being  coeducational,  but,  the  total  number  of 
students  in  college  in  these  states  is  very  small  (in  Maine  only  843  men 
and  189  women;  in  Vermont  only  301  men  and  99  women).  The  leading 
colleges  of  New  Hampshire,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  New  Jersey  and 
Pennsylvania  are  closed,  and  in  Massachusetts  only  2  are  open  and  7 
closed.' 

Of  the  four  hundred  and  eighty  colleges  for  men  enumer- 
ated by  the  commissioner  of  education  336,  or  70  per  cent 
(or,  excluding  Catholic  colleges,  80  per  cent),  admit  women. 
It  would  be  misleading,  however,  to  count  among  Ameri- 
can institutions  for  higher  education,  properly  so-called, 
most  of  the  coeducational  colleges  and  separate  colleges 
for  men  included  in  this  list,  and  it  would  be  equally 
misleading  to  compare  the  number  of  women  studying  in 
such  colleges  in  the  United  States  with  the  number  of 
women  engaged  in  higher  studies  in  England,  France  and 
Germany.3     In  order  to  obtain  a  better  idea  of  opportunities 

'  Two  of  the  three  next  largest  colleges  in  Virginia  —  Richmond  and  Roanoke  — 
admit  women,  but  the  advance  in  women's  education  in  that  state  has  been  very 
recent.  Until  the  establishment  of  the  State  normal  school  in  1883  there  was  not 
a  scientific  laboratory  in  the  state  accessible  to  women;  in  1893  the  Randolph- 
Macon  Woman's  college  opened  with  several  laboratories,  see  Prof.  Celestia 
Parrish,  Proceedings  2d  Capon  Springs  conference  for  education  in  the  south, 
iSgg,  p.  68.  I  am  much  indebted  to  the  author  of  this  paper  for  valuable  data 
in  regard  to  coeducation  in  the  south. 

'  The  Massachusetts  institute  of  technology  is  classified  by  the  U.  S.  ed.  reps, 
among  technical  schools. 

*The  commissioner  of  education  does  not  feel  himself  at  liberty  to  discriminate 
among  the  colleges  chartered  by  the  different  states,  but  it  is  well  known  that  in 
most  states  the  name  of  college,  or  preferably  that  of  university,  and  the  power 
to  confer  degrees  are  granted  to  any  institution  whatsoever  without  regard  to 
endowment,  scientific  equipment,  scholarly  qualifications   of  the  faculty  or  ade- 


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329] 


EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  1 1~ 


for  true  collegiate  work  open  to  women  at  the  present  time 
in  the  United  States  I  have  selected  from  these  four  hun- 
dred and  eighty  colleges  and  from  the  numerous  colleges  for 
women  classified  elsewhere,  a  list  of  fifty-eight  colleges 
properly  so-called,  employing  for  the  purpose  the  four 
means  of  classification  most  likely  to  commend  them- 
selves to  the  impartial  student  of  such  things.'     Of  these 

quate  preparation  of  the  students.  The  majority  of  the  so-called  colleges  and 
universities  of  the  south  and  west  are  really  secondary  schools.  In  most  of  them 
not  only  are  the  greater  part  of  the  students  really  pupils  in  the  preparatory  or 
high  school  department,  but  most  of  the  students  in  the  collegiate  departments 
are  at  graduation  barely  able  to  enter  upon  the  sophomore  or  second  year  work  of 
the  best  eastern  colleges.  Throughout  this  monograph  I  have  used  the  word  col- 
lege in  speaking  of  institutions  for  undergraduate  education,  except  when  quoting 
their  official  titles,  and  this  whether  the  college  in  question  is,  or  is  not,  included 
in  a  larger  institution  providing  also  three  years  of  graduate  instruction.  The 
terms  college  and  university  are  used  in  America  without  any  definite  understand- 
ing, even  among  colleges  and  universities  themselves,  as  to  how  they  shall  be 
differentiated.  Probably  the  most  commonly  accepted  usage  is  to  call  an  institu- 
tion a  university  if  it  has  attached  to  it  various  departments,  or  schools,  without 
regard  to  the  standing  of  these  departments,  the  preparation  of  the  students  enter- 
ing them,  or  the  work  done  in  them.  In  this  sense  all  the  state  universities  of  the 
west  are  called  universities  because,  although  many  of  them  are  really  high 
schools,  they  have  attached  to  them  schools  of  pharmacy,  veterinary  science, 
agriculture,  and  sometimes  medicine  or  law.  It  is  in  this  sense  that  many  insti- 
tutions for  negroes  are  called  universities,  because  they  include  various  depart- 
ments of  industrial  art  as  well  as  a  high  school  department.  Until  very  recently 
the  requirements  for  admission  to  the  departments  of  law,  medicine,  dentistry, 
etc.,  have  been  so  low  that  it  has  been  a  positive  disadvantage  to  have  such  schools 
attached  to  the  college  department,  and  when  lately  the  graduates  of  Harvard  col- 
lege decided  not  to  allow  the  graduates  of  its  affiliated  schools  to  vote  with  them 
for  representatives  on  the  board  of  trustees,  they  claimed  with  justice  that  the 
illiberal  education  of  the  majority  of  these  graduates  would  tend  to  lower  the 
standard  of  Harvard  college.  The  use  of  the  word  university  should  be  strictly 
limited  to  institutions  offering  at  least  three  years  of  graduate  instruction  in  one 
or  more  schools. 

*  In  this  list  of  fifty-eight  colleges  I  have  included  :  first,  the  twenty-four  col- 
leges (indicated  in  the  list  by  "a")  whose  graduates  are  admitted  to  the  Associa- 
tion of  collegiate  alumnae;  second,  the  twenty-three  colleges  (24  are  included  in 
the  Federation,  but  Barnard  has  ceased  to  be  a  graduate  school,  see  page  28) 
included  in  the  Federation  of  graduate  clubs  (indicated  by  "b");  third,  the  fifty- 
two  colleges  (indicated  by  "  c  ")  included  in  the  1899-1900  edition  of  Minerva,  the 
well-known  handbook  of  colleges  and  universities  of  the  world  published  each 
year  by  Truebner  &  Co.;  and  fourth,  the  colleges  which,  according  to  the  U.  S. 
education  report  for  1897-98,  have  at  least  $500,000  worth  of  productive  funds 
(indicated  by  "  d  "),  and  also  three  hundred  or  more  students  (indicated  by  "  e  "). 
In  the  case  of  state  universities  the  money  they  receive  annually  from  national  and 
state  appropriations  may  reasonably  be  regarded  as  a  sort  of  supplementary 
endowment ;  I  have,  therefore,  included  the  state  universities  of  Maine,  Iowa  and 


12  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  [33O 

fifty-eight  colleges  four  are  independent  colleges  for  women 
and  three  women's  colleges  affiliated  to  colleges  for  men  ; 
of  the  remaining  51,  30,  or  58.8  per  cent,  are  coedu- 
cational, and  a  nearer  examination  makes  a  much  more 
favorable  showing  for  coeducation.  Of  the  21  colleges 
closed  to  women  in  their  undergraduate  departments  five 
have  affiliated  to  them  a  women's  college  through  which 
women  obtain  some  share  in  the  undergraduate  instruc- 
tion given,  the  affiliated  colleges  in  three  cases  being   of 

West  Virginia,  whose  productive  funds  do  not  amount  to  $500,000.  This  list  of 
fifty-eight  colleges,  arranged  according  to  the  different  sections  of  the  country, 
and  as  far  as  possible  in  the  order  of  the  numbers  in  their  undergraduate  depart- 
ments, is  as  follows:  New  England  and  j  northern  middle  states:  Harvard  (bcde), 
Yale  (bcde),  Cornell  (abcde-coed.),  Massachusetts  institute  of  technology  (acde- 
coed.),  Smith  (acde-woman's  college),  Princeton  (bcde),  Pennsylvania  (bcde),  Colum- 
bia (bcde).  Brown  (bcde),  Wellesley  (abce-woman's  college),  Vassar  (acde-woman's 
college),  Syracuse  (acde-coed.),  Dartmouth  (cde),  Boston  (acde-coed.),  Amherst 
(cde),  RadclifFe  (abce-affiliated),  Williams  (cde),  Lehigh  (cde),  Maine  (e-coed.), 
Wesleyan  (acde-coed.),  Vermont  (c-coed.),  Lafayette  (c),  Bryn  Mawr  (abed- 
woman's  college).  New  York  University  (cd),  Barnard  (a-affiliated),  Hamilton  (c), 
Colgate  (cd),  Clark  (bcd-no  undergrad.  department).  Southern  and 2  southern  middle 
states:  Missouri  (bcde-coed.),  Texas  (cde-coed.),  Columbian  (bee-coed.).  West  Vir- 
ginia (e-coed.),  Tulane  (cd),  Vanderbilt  (bed-coed.),  Virginia  (c),  Johns  Hopkins 
(bed),  Washington  (St.  Louis)  (cd-coed.),  Georgetown  (c-Catholic),  Catholic  uni- 
versity (cd-no  undergrad.  department).  Western  states:  Minnesota  (abcde-coed.), 
Michigan  (abcde-coed.),  California  (abcde-coed.),  Wisconsin  (abcde-coed.),  Chicago 
(abcde-coed.),  Leland  Stanford  (abcde-coed.),  Nebraska  (ace-coed.),  Ohio  state 
university  (de-coed.),  Indiana  (cde-coed.),  Illinois  (ce-coed.),  Kansas  (ace-coed.), 
Ohio  Wesleyan  (cde-coed.),  Iowa  (e-coed.),  Northwestern  (acde-coed.),  Oberlin 
(acde-coed.),  Cincinnati  (cd-coed.),  Colorado  (c-coed.),,  Western  reserve  (bed), 
College  for  Women  of  western  reserve  (a-afifiliated). 

The  only  attempt  hitherto  made  in  America  to  discriminate  between  colleges 
of  true  college  grade  and  others  has  bee«  made  by  the  Association  of  collegiate 
alumnae.  This  association  was  organized  in  1882  for  the  purpose  of  uniting  women 
graduates  of  the  foremost  coeducational  colleges  and  colleges  for  women  only  into 
an  association  for  work  connected  with  the  higher  education  of  women.  In  the 
early  years  of  the  association  there  was  appointed  a  committee  on  admissions,  and 
the  admission  of  each  successive  college  in  the  association  has  been  carefully  con- 
sidered, both  with  regard  to  its  entrance  requirements,  the  training  of  its  faculty 
and  its  curriculum.  The  Association  of  collegiate  alumnae  concerns  itself,  of 
course,  only  with  colleges  admitting  women,  but  there  is  no  doubt  that  the 
fifteen  coeducational  colleges  and  seven  colleges  for  women  only  admitted  to 
the  association  would,  in  the  estimation  of  every  one  familiar  with  the  subject, 
rank  among  the  first  fifty-eight  colleges  of  the  United  States. 

The  Federation  of  graduate  clubs  is  an  association  of  graduate  students  of 
those  colleges  whose  graduate  schools  are  important  enough  to  entitle  them  to 
admission  to  the  federation.  The  colleges  in  the  Federation  of  graduate  clubs 
are  the  only  colleges  in  the  United  States  that  do  true  university  work. 


GROWTH  OF  COEDUCATION 


Coeducatioaal     2>0-7Vo 


1870 


For  mea  only   69-3% 


Coeducatiorval    5l-3^Vo 


1880 


For  men  only    AQlYo. 


Coeducational    65-5% 


1890 


For  men  only   34-5% 


Coeducational     lO-Vo 


1898 


For  n'en  only      30-% 


^^ 

^H 

^H 

^B 

m!m> 

I  have  prepared  the  diagram  for  1870  from  the  U.  S.  ed.  rep.  for  1870,  pp. 
506-516,  and  the  diagram  for  1897-98  from  the  U.  S.  ed.  rep.,  pp.  1848-1867,  and 
from  the  table,  opposite  page  9  of  this  monograph.  The  diagrams  for  1880  and 
1890  are  copied  from  the  report  for  1889-90,  p.  764.  For  assistance  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  this  and  other  diagrams,  and  in  working  out  the  percentages  given  here, 
and  elsewhere,  in  this  monograph  I  am  much  indebted  to  Dr  Isabel  Maddison. 

If  Catholic  colleges  are  excluded,  as  in  the  map  opposite  page  10,  coeducational 
colleges  formed,  in  1898,  80  per  cent,  and  colleges  for  men  only  20  per  cent  of  the 
whole  number — a  still  more  favorable  result  for  coeducation. 


33 1]  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  1 3 

enough  importance  to  appear  in  the  same  list.  Of  these 
five,  four  (all  but  Harvard)  admit  women  without  restric- 
tion to  their  graduate  instruction,  and  in  addition  Yale, 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania  and  New  York  university 
make  no  distinction  between  men  and  women  in  graduate 
instruction.  The  Johns  Hopkins  university  maintains  a 
coeducational  medical  school.  In  this  list  then  of  fifty- 
eight,  which  includes  all  the  most  important  colleges  in  the 
United  States,  there  are,  apart  from  the  two  Catholic  col- 
leges, only  ten  (Dartmouth,  Amherst,  Williams,  Clark, 
Princeton,  Lehigh,  Lafayette,  Hamilton,  Colgate,  Virginia, 
all  situated  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard)  to  which  women  are 
not  admitted  in  some  departments.  Princeton  is  the  only 
one  of  the  large  university  foundations  that  excludes  women 
from  any  share  whatsoever  in  its  advantages.  The  diagram 
on  the  opposite  page  shows  the  steady  progress  of  coedu- 
cation from  from  1870  to  1898.^ 

All  the  arguments  against  the  coeducation  of  the  sexes 
in  colleges  have  been  met  and  answered  by  experience.  It 
was  feared  at  first  that  coeducation  would  lower  the  standard 
of  scholarship  on  account  of  the  supposed  inferior  quality  of 
women's  minds.  The  unanimous  experience  in  coeducational 
colleges  goes  to  show  that  the  average  standing  of  women  is 
slightly  higher  than  the  average  standing  of  men."     Many 

'  In  only  two  instances,  so  far  as  I  know,  has  coeducation  once  introduced  been 
abandoned  or  restricted  in  any  way.  The  private  college  of  Adelbert  of  Western 
reserve,  coeducational  from  1873,  opened  a  separate  woman's  college  and  excluded 
women  in  1888.  As  the  college  department  was  very  small  and  the  state  of  Ohio 
in  which  the  college  was  situated  the  most  eastern  in  feeling  of  all  western  states, 
the  change  was  seemingly  to  be  attributed  to  a  bid  for  students  through  under- 
graduate novelty.  The  Baptist  college  of  Colby,  in  Maine,  coeducational  from 
1871,  has  taught  women  in  separate  classes  in  required  work  since  1890.  Women 
are  not  allowed  to  compete  with  men  for  college  prizes  or  for  membership  in  the 
students'  society,  which  elects  its  members  on  account  of  scholarship.  Complete 
separation,  which  was  at  first  planned,  has  proved  impracticable  and  from  the 
beginning  of  the  sophomore  year  women  and  men  recite  together  in  all  elective 
work. 

'  In  an  investigation  made  several  years  ago  in  the  University  of  Wisconsin, 
which  has  been  open  to  women  since  1874,  it  was  found  that  the  women  ranked  in 
scholarship  very  considerably  beyond  the  men.  In  the  University  of  Michigan, 
where  women  have  been  educated  with  men  since  1870,  President  Angell  has 
repeatedly  laid  stress  on  their  excellent  scholarship.     When  in  1893-94  a  committee 


\ 


14  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  [332 

■  reasons  for  the  greater  success  of  women  are  given,  such  as 
absence  of  the  distraction  of  athletic  sports,  greater  dili- 
gence, higher  moral  standards,  but  the  fact,  however  it  may 
be  explained,  remains  and  is  as  gratifying  as  astonishing  to 
those  intersted  in  women's  education.  The  question  of  health 
has  also  been  finally  disposed  of  ;  thousands  of  women  have 
been  working  side  by  side  with  men  in  coeducational  institu- 
tions for  the  past  twenty-five  years  and  undergoing  exactly 
the  same  tests  without  a  larger  percentage  of  withdrawals  on 
account  of  illness  than  men.  The  question  of  conduct  has 
also  been  disposed  of.  None  of  the  difficulties  have  arisen 
that  were  feared  from  the  association  of  men  and  women  of 
marriageable  age.  Looking  at  coeducation  as  a  whole  it  is 
most  surprising  that  it  has  worked  so  well."  Perhaps  the 
only  objection  that  may  be  made  from  men's  point  of 
view  to  coeducation  in  America  is  that  it  has  succeeded 
only  too  well  and  that  the  proportion  of  women  students  is 
increasing  too  steadily.  Not  only  is  the  number  of  coedu- 
cational colleges  increasing  but  the  number  of  women  rela- 
tively to  the  number  of  men  is  increasing  also.  In  1890 
there  were  studying  in  coeducational  colleges  16,959  men 
and  7,929  women ;  or  women,  in  other  words,  formed  31.9 
per  cent  of  the  whole  body  of  students.  In  1898  there  were 
28,823  men  and  16,284  women  studying  in  coeducational 
colleges,  women  forming  36.  i  per  cent  of  the  whole  body 
of  students.  Between  1890  and  1898  men  in  coeduca- 
tional colleges  have  increased  70.0  per  cent,  but  women 
in  coeducational  colleges  have   increased    105.4  per  cent."" 

of  the  faculty  of  the  University  of  Virginia  asked  the  officers  of  a  large  number  of 
coeducational  colleges  especially  in  regard  to  this  point  the  testimony  received 
was  very  remarkable.  In  England  it  should  be  noted  that  the  question  of  the 
success  of  women  in  collegiate  studies  has  been  put  beyond  a  doubt  by  the  pub- 
lished class  lists  of  the  competitive  honor  examinations  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge, 
In  the  discussions  in  regard  to  granting  women  degrees  at  Cambridge,  it  was 
frdely  admitted  that  women's  minds  were  "  splendid  for  examination  purposes." 

'  For  a  discussion  of  coeducation  in  schools  and  colleges  in  1892,  see  U.  S.  educa- 
tion report  for  1891-92,  pp.  783-862. 

*  U.  S.  education  report  1889-90,  pp.  761,  1582-1599,  and  1897-98,  p.  1823;  account 
is  taken  of  students  of  true  college  grade  only  in  the  college  proper.  Through- 
out  this  monograph  I  have  corrected  the  figures  of  the  U.  S.  ed.  reps,  which  are 


333]  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  1 5 

There  is  every  reason  to  suppose  that  this  increase  of 
women  will  continue.  Already  girls  form  56.5  per  cent  of 
the  pupils  in  all  secondary  schools  and  13  per  cent  of  the  girls 
enrolled  and  only  10  per  cent  of  the  boys  enrolled  graduate 
from  the  public  high  schools.  It  is  sometimes  said  that 
men  students,  as  a  rule,  dislike  the  presence  of  women,  and 
in  especial  that  they  are  unwilling  to  compete  for  prizes 
against  women  for  the  very  reason  that  the  average  stand- 
ing of  women  is  higher  than  their  own.  If  there  is  any 
force  in  this  statement,  however,  it  would  seem  that  men 
should  increase  less  rapidly  in  coeducational  colleges  than 
in  separate  colleges  for  men.  The  reverse,  however,  is 
the  case.  During  the  eight  years  from  1890  to  1898  men 
have  increased  in  coeducational  colleges  70.0  per  cent,  but 
in  separate  colleges  for  men  only  34.7  per  cent.'  This  is  all 
the  more  remarkable,  because  in  the  separate  colleges  for 
men  are  included  the  large  undergraduate  departments  of 
Harvard,  Yale,  Princeton,  Columbia  and  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania.  It  is  women  who  have  shown  a  preference 
for  separate  education  ;  women  have  increased  more  rapidly 
in  separate  colleges  for  women  than  in  coeducational  colleges. 
It  will  be  observed,  however,  that  the  separate  colleges  for 
woftien,  like  the  separate  colleges  for  men  included  in  my 
list  of  fifty-eight,  are  in  the  east ;  it  is  in  the  east  only  that 
any  preference  for  separate  education  is  shown  by  either 
sex.* 

affected  by  the  erroneous  assumption  that  the  undergraduate  departments  of 
Brown,  Yale,  Rochester,  New  York  Univ.,  Pennsylvania,  Tulane  and  Western 
Reserve  are  coeducational.  In  the  University  of  Chicago  women  formed,  in 
1898,  54.5  per  cent  of  all  regular,  and  70  per  cent  of  all  unclassified,  students; 
in  Boston  university  in  the  regular  college  course  there  were,  in  1899,  299  women 
as  against  192  men. 

*  In  1889-90  there  were  19,245  men  studying  in  146  colleges  for  men  only ;  in 
1898-99  there  were  25,915  men  studying  in  143  colleges  for  men  only,  an  increase 
of  only  34.7  per  cent.  (In  enumerating  students  I  have  regarded  the  limited 
coeducational  college  of  Colby  as  coeducational.)  Women,  however,  have 
increased  in  women's  colleges  138.4  per  cent. 

'The  objection  of  men  students  in  the  east  to  coeducation  seems  to  be  mainly 
in  the  apprehension  that  the  presence  of  women  may  interfere  with  the  free  social 
life  which  has  become  so  prominent  a  feature  of  private  colleges  for  men  in  the 
east.     These  colleges  are,  for  the  most  part,  situated  either  in  small  country  towns. 


1 6  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  [334 

Independent  colleges  for  women  —  Since  independent  col- 
leges for  women  of  the  same  grade  as  those  for  men  are 
peculiar  to  the  United  States,  I  shall  treat  them  some- 
what more  fully.'  The  independent  colleges  here  taken 
into  account  are  the  eleven  colleges  included  in  division 
A'  of    the    U.    S.    education    reports.^     The    independent 

or  in  the  suburbs  of  a  city,  in  communities  which  have  grown  up  about  the  college, 
and  their  students  live  largely  in  college  dormitories;  the  conditions,  therefore, 
are  exceedingly  unlike  those  prevailing  in  non-residential  colleges  and  also  unlike 
those  prevailing  in  the  world  at  large.  These  exceptional  conditions  are  a  source 
of  pleasure  and,  in  many  respects,  of  advantage  to  the  student.  Undoubtedly 
there  is  in  coeducational  colleges  less  unrestraint  ;  young  men  undoubtedly  care 
much  for  the  impression  that  they  make  on  young  women  of  the  same  age,  and 
there  is  more  decorum  and  perhaps  more  diligence  in  classrooms  where  women 
are  present.  The  objection  to  coeducation  on  the  part  of  women  students  is,  to 
some  extent,  the  same  ;  separate  colleges  for  women  in  like  manner  are,  as  a  rule, 
academic  communities  living  according  to  regulations  and  customs  all  their  own  ; 
women  also  feel  themselves  more  unrestrained  when  they  are  studying  in  women's 
colleges.  Then,  too,  coeducation  in  the  east  is  still  regarded  as  in  some 
measure  an  experiment,  to  the  success  of  which  the  conduct  of  each  individ- 
ual woman  may,  or  may  not,  contribute,  and  the  knowledge  of  this  tends  to 
increase  the  self-consciousness  of  student  life. 

'  In  the  case  of  the  colleges  in  groups  I  and  II  these  statistics  have  been 
obtained  through  the  kindness  of  the  presidents  of  the  colleges  concerned; 
they  are  for  the  year  1900,  except  the  numbers  of  instructors  and  students  which 
are  obtained  from  the  catalogues  for  the  year  1898—99;  in  enumerating  the 
instructors,  presidents,  teachers  of  gymnastics,  elocution,  music  and  art  have 
been  omitted.  Instructors  away  on  leave  of  absence  are  not  counted  among 
instructors  for  the  current  year. 

*  Women's  colleges  were  first  classified  in  division  A  and  division  B  in  1887. 
In  these  reports  there  appeared  sporadically  in  division  A  Ingham  university, 
at  Leroy,  New  York,  and  Rutgers  female  college  in  New  York  city.  Nei- 
ther of  these  had  any  adequate  endowment  and  neither  ever  obtained  more 
than  35  students.  Ingham  university  closed  in  1893,  Rutgers  female  college  in 
1895. 

*  The  women's  colleges,  so  called,  included  in  division  B  of  these  reports,  are  in 
reality  church  and  private  enterprise  schools,  as  a  rule  of  the  most  superficial 
character,  without  endowment,  or  fixed  curriculum,  or  any  standard  whatsoever  of 
scholarship  in  teachers  or  pupils.  What  money  there  is  to  spend  is  for  the  most 
part  used  to  provide  teachers  of  music,  drawing  and  other  accomplishments,  and 
the  school  instruction  proper  is  shamefully  inadequate.  Few  if  any  of  these 
schools  are  able  to  teach  the  subjects  required  for  entrance  to  a  college  properly 
so  called;  the  really  good  girls'  schools  are,  as  a  rule,  excluded  from  this  list  by 
their  honesty  in  not  assuming  the  name  of  college.  The  U.  S.  education  report 
for  1886-87  gives  152  of  these  colleges  in  division  B,  the  report  for  1897-98,  135. 
When  it  is  said  that  separate  colleges  for  women  are  decreasing,  the  statement  is 
based  on  this  list  of  colleges  in  division  B,  which  are  not  really  colleges  at  all; 
and  when  it  is  said  that  women  students  are  not  increasing  so  rapidly  in  separate 
colleges  for  women  as  in  coeducational   colleges,  it  is  the  students  in  these  mis- 


335]  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  1 7 

colleges  for  women  fall  readily  into  three  groups :  I.  The 
so-called  "  four  great  colleges  for  women,"  Vassar,  Smith, 
Wellesley,  Bryn  Mawr.  It  will  be  seen  by  referring  to  the 
classification  on  page  12  that  these  four  colleges  are 
included  among  the  fifty-eight  leading  colleges  of  the 
United  States ;  they  are  all  included  in  the  twenty-two  col- 
leges admitted  to  the  Association  of  collegiate  alumnae ; 
two  of  them,  Bryn  Mawr  and  Wellesley,  are  included  in  the 
twenty-three  colleges  belonging  to  the  Federation  of  gradu- 
ate clubs ;  they  are  all  included  in  the  list  of  fifty-two  lead- 
ing colleges  of  the  United  States  given  in  the  handbook  of 
Minerva ;  they  are  all,  except  Bryn  Mawr,  included  in  the 
list  given  by  the  U.  S.  education  report  for  1897-98^  of 
forty-six  colleges  in  the  United  States  having  three  hundred 
students  and  upward ;  three  of  them,  Bryn  Mawr,  Smith  and 
Vassar,  are  included  among  the  fifty-two  colleges  of  the 
United  States  possessing  invested  funds  of  $500,000  and 
upward,  and  two  of  them,  Vassar  and  Bryn  Mawr,  are 
included  among  the  twenty-nine  colleges  of  the  United 
States  possessing  funds  of  $1,000,000  and  upward;  three 
of  them.  Smith,  Wellesley  and  Vassar,  rank  among  the 
twenty-three  largest  undergraduate  colleges  in  the  United 
States ;  one  of  them.  Smith,  ranks  as  the  tenth  undergradu- 
ate college  in  the  United  States. 

called  colleges  who  are  referred  to;  for  precisely  the  reverse  is  true  of  students 
in  genuine  colleges  for  women.  It  is  happily  true  that  since  better  college  edu- 
cation has  been  obtainable,  women  have  been  refusing  to  attend  the  institutions 
included  in  class  B.  Between  1890  and  1898  women  have  increased  only  4.9  per 
cent  in  the  college  departments  of  such  institutions,  whereas,  in  these  same  eight 
years,  they  have  increased  138.4  per  cent  in  women's  colleges  in  division  A.  The 
value  of  statistics  of  women  college  students  is  often  vitiated  by  the  fact  that 
women  studying  in  institutions  included  in  division  B  are  counted  among  college 
students.  Many  of  the  colleges  for  men  only  and  of  the  coeducational  colleges 
included  in  the  lists  of  the  commissioner  of  education  are  very  low  in  grade,  but 
few  of  them  are  so  scandalously  inefficient  as  the  majority  of  the  girls'  schools 
included  in  division  B.  I  have,  therefore,  in  my  statistics  taken  no  account 
whatever  of  women  studying  in  institutions  classified  in  division  B. 

*  See  pp.  1821,  1822,  1888,  1889.  Bryn  Mawr  had  not  300  undergraduate  students 
in  1897-98,  but  the  next  year,  1898-99,  passed  the  limit.  I  have  excluded  Western 
reserve  as  it  is  not  coeducational  in  its  undergraduate  department,  and,  in  1899, 
had  only  182  men  in  its  men's  college  and  183  women  in  its  women's  college. 


1 8  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  [336 

Vassar  college,  Poughkeepsie,  New  York^ — Founder,  Matthew 
Vassar ;  intention,  "  to  found  and  equip  an  institution  which 
should  accomplish  for  young  women  what  our  colleges  are  accom- 
plishing for  young  men  ;  "  opened,  1865  ;  preparatory  department 
dropped,  1888  ;  presidents,  three  (men) ;  45  instructors  (16  Ph.  D.s.) 
—  35  women,  2  without  first  degree;  10  men;  584  undergrad.  s.,  11 
grad.  s.,  24  special  s. ;  productive  funds,  $1,050,000  ;  a  main  building 
with  lecture  rooms,  library  and  accommodation  for  345  students,  and 
two  other  residence  halls  accommodating  189  students;  a  science 
building ;  a  lecture  building  ;  a  museum  with  art,  music  and  labora- 
tory rooms  ;  an  observatory  ;  a  gymnasium  ;  a  plant  house  ;  a  presi- 
dent's house ;  five  professors'  houses ;  total  cost  of  buildings, 
$1,044,365  ;  vols,  in  library,  30,000;  laboratory  equipment,  $33,382  ; 
acres,  200 ;  music  and  art  depts.,  but  technical  work  in  neither 
counted  toward  bachelor's  degree  ;  tuition  fee,  $100 ;  lowest  charge, 
tuition,  board  and  residence,  including  washing,  $400. 

Wellesley  college,  Wellesley,  Massachusetts  —  Founder,' 
Henry  F.  Durant ;  intention,  "to  found  a  college  for  the  glory 
of  God  by  the  education  and  culture  of  women,"  opened  1875; 
preparatory  department  dropped,  1880;  requirement  from  stu- 
dents of  one  hour  daily  domestic  or  clerical  work  dropped,  1896  ;' 
presidents,  five  (all  women);  69  instructors  (13  Ph.  D.s.)  —  64 
women,  16,  apart  from  laboratory  assistants  without  first  degree ; 
5  men;  611    undergrad.  s.,  25  grad.    s.,  21  special   s. ;   productive 

''  T.      '.  '.  '.  '.        '.       '.  ' 

'  To  any  one  familiar  with  the  circumstances  it  does  no^  admit  of  discussion  that 
in  Vassar  we  have  the  legitimate  parent  of  all  future  colleges  for  women  which 
were  to  be  founded  in  such  rapid  succession  in  the  next  period.  It  is  true  that  in 
1855  the  Presbyterian  synod  opened  Elmira  college  in  Elmira,  New  York,  but  it 
had  practically  no  endowment  and  scarcely  any  college  students.  Even  before 
1855  two  famous  female  seminaries  were  founded  which  did  much  to  create  a 
standard  for  the  education  of  girls.  In  1821  Mrs.  Emma  Willard  opened  at  Troy 
a  seminary  for  girls,  known  as  the  Troy  female  seminary,  still  existing  under  the 
name  of  the  Emma  Willard  school.  In  1837  Mary  Lyon  opened  in  the  beautiful 
valley  of  the  Connecticut  Mt.  Holyoke  seminary,  where  girls  were  educated  so 
cheaply  that  it  was  almost  a  free  school.  This  institution  has  had  a  great 
influence  in  the  higher  education  of  women;  it  became  in  1893  Mt.  Holyoke 
college.  These  seminaries  are  often  claimed  as  the  first  women's  colleges,  but 
their  curriculum  of  study  proves  conclusively  that  they  had  no  thought  whatever 
of  giving  women  a  collegiate  education,  whereas,  the  deliberations  of  the  board 
of  trustees  whom  Mr.  Vassar  associated  with  himself  show  clearly  that  it 
was  expressly  realized  that  here  for  the  first  time  was  being  created  a 
woman's  college  as  distinct  from  the  seminary  or  academy.  In  1861  the  move- 
ment for  the  higher  education  of  women  had  scarcely  begun.  It  was  not  until 
eight  years  later  that  the  first  of  the  women's  colleges  at  Cambridge,  England, 
opened. 


337]  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  1 9 

funds,  $7,000 ;  ^  a  main  building  with  library  lecture  rooms  and 
accommodation  for  250  students;  a  chemical  laboratory;  an  obser- 
vatory; a  chapel;  an  art  building;  a  music  building;  8  halls  of 
residence,  accommodating  348  students  (new  hall  being  built) ; 
total  cost  of  buildings,  $1,106,500;  vols,  in  library,  49,970; 
laboratory  equipment,  $50,000;  acres,  410;  music  and  art  depts., 
but  technical  work  in  neither  counted  toward  bachelor's  degree ; 
tuition  fee,  $175  :  lowest  charge,  tuition,  board  and  residence  (beds 
made,  rooms  dusted  by  students),  $400. 

Smith  college,  Northampton,  Massachusetts  —  Founder, 
Sophia  Smith ;  intention,  to  provide  "  means  and  facilities  for 
education  equal  to  those  which  are  afforded  in  our  colleges  for 
young  men;"  opened,  1875;  no  preparatory  department  ever 
connected  with  the  college  ;  president,  one  (man) ;  49  instructors  (13 
Ph.  D.s.)  —  2^  women,  9  without  first  degree  ;  12  men  ;  1,070  under- 
grad.  s.,  4  grad.  s.  ;  since  1891  no  special  s.  admitted;  productive 
funds,  $900,000;  two  lecture  buildings;  a  lecture  and  gymnastic 
building;  a  science  building;  a  chemical  laboratory;  an  observa- 
tory ;  a  gymnasium ;  a  plant  house  ;  a  music  building ;  an  art 
building;  13  halls  of  residence  accommodating  520  students;  a 
president's  house  ;  total  cost  of  buildings  $786,000  ;  vols,  in  library, 
8,000  (70,000  vols,  in  library  in  Northampton  also  used  by  the  stu- 
dents) ;  laboratory  equipment,  $22,500;  acres,  40;  music  and  art 
depts.,  technical  work  in  both,  amounting  to  between  one-sixth 
and  one-seventh  of  the  hours  required  for  a  degree,  may  be  counted 
toward  bachelor's  degree  ;  tuition  fee,  $100;  lowest  charge,  tuition, 
board  and  residence  (beds  made,  rooms  dusted  by  students),  $400. 
Bryn  Mawr  college,  Bryn  Mawr,  Pennsylvania  —  Founder, 
Joseph  W.  Taylor;  intention,  to  provide  "an  institution  of  learn- 
ing for  the  advanced  education  of  women  which  should  afford  them 
all  the  advantages  of  a  college  education  which  are  so  freely  offered 
to  young  men;"  opened,  1885;  no  preparatory  department  ever 
connected  with  the  college  ;  presidents,  two  (one  man,  one  woman)  ; 
38  instructors  (29  Ph.  D.s.  i  D.  Sc.) — 15  women,  23  men;  269 
undergrad.  s.,  61  grad.  s.,  9  hearers  ;  productive  funds,  $1,000,000  ; 
a  lecture  and  library  building  ;  a  science  building;  a  gymnasium ; 
an  infirmary  ;  five  halls  of  residence  and  two  cottages,  accommodat- 
ing 323  students  ;  a  president's  house  ;  6  professors'  houses  ;  total 

'  The  founder  of  Wellesley  expected  to  leave  the  college  a  large  endowment,  but 
his  fortune  was  dissipated  in  unfortunate  investments.  The  splendid  grounds 
and  many  halls  of  residence  of  the  college  constitute  a  form  of  endowment,  other- 
wise its  lack  of  productive  funds  would  have  excluded  it  from  class  I. 


20  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  [338 

cost,  $718,810;  vols,  in  library,  32,000;  laboratory  equipment, 
$47,998;  acres,  50;  no  music  department;  no  technical  instruction 
in  art  ;  tuition  fee,  $125  ;  lowest  charge,  tuition,  board  and  resi- 
dence, $400. 

II.  The  women's  colleges  not  included  in  the  list  of  the 
fifty-eight  most  important  colleges  in  the  United  States 
given  on  page  12,  but  of  exceedingly  good  academic  stand- 
ing as  compared  with  the  greater  number  of  the  separate 
colleges  for  men  and  the  coeducational  colleges  included  in 
the  four  hundred  and  eighty  enumerated  by  the  commis- 
sioner of  education. 

Mt.  Holyoke  college,  South  Hadley,  Massachusetts — Founder^ 
Mary  Lyon  ;  seminary  opened,  1837;  chartered  as  seminary  and 
college,  1888  ;  seminary  department  dropped  and  true  college  organ- 
ized, 1893;  presidents,  two  (both  women);  37  instructors  (7  Ph. 
D.s.)  —  all  women  ;  5,  apart  from  laboratory  assistants,  without  first 
degree ;  426  undergrad.  s.,  3  grad.  s.,  9  special  s.,  3  music  s.;  pro- 
ductive funds,  $300,000 ;  a  lecture  building;  a  science  building; 
a  museum  and  art  gallery ;  a  library  ;  a  gymnasium  ;  a  rink ;  an 
observatory ;  an  infirmary ;  a  plant  house ;  9  residence  halls 
accommodating  478  students  ;  total  cost  of  buildings,  $625,000 ; 
vols,  in  library,  17,700;  laboratory  equipment,  $33,000;  acres,  160; 
music  and  art  depts.,  technical  work  in  both,  amount  limited  by 
faculty,  may  be  counted  towards  bachelor's  degree ;  tuition  fee, 
$100 ;  lowest  charge,  tuition,  board  and  residence  (beds  made, 
rooms  dusted,  by  students,  and  in  addition  one-half  hour  of 
domestic  work  required),  $250. 

Woman's  college  of  Baltimore,  city  of  Baltimore,  Maryland  — 
Founded  and  controlled  by  Methodist  Episcopal  church ;  opened, 
1888 ;  preparatory  department  dropped,  1893  ;  presidents,  two 
(men);  21  instructors  (10  Ph.  D.s.) —  11  women,  i  without  first  degree ; 
10  men,  i  without  first  degree;  259  undergrad.  s. ;  o  grad.  s. ;  15 
special  s. ;  productive  funds,  $334,994  ;  a  lecture  building  and  three 
houses  adapted  for  lecture  purposes ;  a  gymnasium ;  a  biological 
laboratory ;  3  residence  halls  holding  230 ;  total  cost  of  buildings, 
$505>703  ;  vols,  in  library,  7,800  ;  laboratory  equipment,  $47,000 ; 
acres  (in  city),  7 ;  music  and  art  depts.,  but  technical  work  in 
neither  counted  towards  bachelor's  degree;  tuition  fee,  $125  ;  low- 
est charge,  tuition,  board  and  residence  (beds  made,  rooms  dusted 
by  students),  $375. 


339]  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  21 

Wells  college,  Aurora,  New  York  —  Founders,  Henry  Wells 
and  Edwin  B.  Morgan;  seminary  opened,  1868;  chartered  as  col- 
lege, 1870;  preparatory  dept.  dropped,  1896;  presidents,  two 
(men);  13  instructors  (4  Ph.  D.s.) — 10  women,  3  without  first 
degree ;  3  men ;  59  undergrad.  s. ;  o  grad.  s. ;  27  special  s. ;  4 
music  s. ;  productive  funds,  $200,000 ;  a  main  building  with  lec- 
ture rooms  and  accommodations  for  100  students ;  a  science  and 
music  building;  a  president's  house;  total  cost  of  buildings, 
$195,000;  vols,  in  library,  7,300;  laboratory  equipment,  $20,200; 
acres,  200 ;  music  and  art  depts.,  technical  work  in  neither  counted 
towards  bachelor's  degree;  tuition  fee,  $100;  lowest  charge,  tui- 
tion, board  and  residence  (beds  made  by  students),  $400. 

III.  Elmira  college,  the  Randolph-Macon  Woman's  col- 
lege, Rockford  college  and  Mills  college  are  here  relegated 
to  a  third  group  because  of  certain  common  characteristics. 
Their  endowment  is  wholly  inadequate,  averaging  consid- 
erably less  than  $50,000  apiece,  reaching  $100,000  only  in 
the  case  of  the  Randolph-Macon  Woman's  college.  In  each 
of  them  a  disproportionate  number  of  students  is  studying 
in  the  music  or  art  department ;  special  students  form  too 
large  a  proportion  of  the  whole  number  of  students ;  the 
number  of  professors  is  too  small  to  permit  college  classes  to 
be  conducted  by  specialists ;  the  college  classes  are  too 
small ;  true  college  training  cannot  be  obtained  in  very  small 
classes,  and  moreover,  in  view  of  the  increasing  number  of 
women  now  going  to  college,  when  a  college  for  women 
does  not  grow  steadily  it  is  reasonable  to  assume  that  there 
must  be  some  good- reason  for  its  lack  of  growth. 

Elmira  college,  situated  at  Elmira,  New  York,  has,  apart  from 
the  president,  10  academic  instructors  (7  women,  2  without  first' 
degree  ;  3  men)  ;  5  teachers  of  music,  2  of  art.  There  are  studying 
in  the  college  70  regular  college  students,  17  specials  and  61  special 
students  in  music. 

The  Randolph-Macon  Woman's  college,  situated  at  Lynch- 
burg, Virginia,  has,  apart  from  the  president,  12  academic  instruc- 
tors (2  Ph.  D.s.)  —  7  women,  2  without  first  degree;  5  men;  9 
instructors  in  music.  Of  the  226  students,'  55  are  regular  college 
students  ;  44  registered  for  degree  but  spending  one-fifth  of  time  in 

'  The  numbers  of  students  are  for  the  year  1899-1900. 


21  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  [34O 

music  or  preparatory  work  ;  16  special  students  ;  6  students  of  art ; 
49  preparatory  students  ;  46  students  of  music. 

Rockford  college,  Rockford,  Illinois  —  Opened  as  seminary, 
1849;  chartered  as  college,  1892;  13  academic  instructors  (2  Ph. 
D.s.)  —  all  women,  3  without  first  degree;  4  teachers  of  music,  i  of 
art ;  35  college  s.  ;  7  special  s. ;  70  s.  in  music  only. 

Mills  college,  California  —  Opened  as  seminary,  1871  ;  char- 
tered as  college,  1885  ;  11  instructors  (9  women,  3  without  first 
degree;  2  men);  8  teachers  of  music;  22  college  s. ;  135  pupils  in 
preparatory  department. 

In  addition  to  the  existing  colleges  belonging  to  these 
groups,  a  separate  college  for  women,  Trinity,  meant  to  be 
of  true  college  grade,  will  soon  be  opened  in  Washington 
under  the  control  of  the  Roman  Catholic  church. 

It  is  often  assumed  by  the  adversaries  of  coeducation  that 
independent  colleges  for  women  may  be  trusted  to  intro- 
duce a  course  of  study  modified  especially  for  women, 
but  the  experience,  both  of  coeducational  colleges  that 
have  devised  women's  courses  and  of  women's  colleges, 
demonstrates^  conclusively  that  women  themselves  refuse  to 
regard  as  satisfactory  any  modification  whatsoever  of  the 
usual  academic  course.  At  the  opening  of  Vassar  college 
itself  it  is  clear  that  the  trustees  and  faculty  made  an  honest 
attempt  to  discover  and  introduce  certain  modifications  in 
the  system  of  intellectual  training  then  in  operation  in  the 
best  colleges  for  men.  They  planned  from  the  start  to 
give  much  more  time  to  accomplishments  —  music,  draw- 
ing and  painting  —  than  was  given  in  men's  colleges,  and 
the  example  of  Vassar  in  this  respect  was  followed  ten  years 
later  by  Wellesley  and  Smith.  These  accomplishments  have 
gradually  fallen  out  of  the  course  of  women's  colleges ; 
neither  Vassar  nor  Wellesley  allows  time  spent  in  them  to 
be  counted  toward  the  bachelor's  degree.  Smith  alone  of 
the  colleges  of  group  I  still  permits  nearly  one-sixth  of  the 
whole  college  course  to  be  devoted  to  them.  Bryn  Mawr, 
which  opened  ten  years  later  than  Smith  or  Wellesley, 
from  the  beginning  found  it  possible  to  exclude  them  from 
its  course. 


34 1]  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  23 

In  like  manner  Vassar,  Smith  and  Wellesley  in  the  begin- 
ning found  it  necessary  to  admit  special  students  —  students, 
that  is  to  say,  interested  in  special  subjects,  but  without 
sufficient  general  training  to  be  able  to  matriculate  as  col- 
lege students  ;  but  their  admission  has  been  recognized  as 
disadvantageous,  and  has  gradually  been  restricted.  In 
1870  special  students,  as  distinguished  from  preparatory 
students,  formed  19.6  per  cent  of  the  whole  number  of  the 
students  of  Vassar;  in  1899  they  formed  only  3-9  P^'*  cent, 
and  only  3.3  per  cent  of  the  whole  number  of  Wellesley 
students.  Smith  since  1891  has  declined  to  admit  them 
at  all,  and  Bryn  Mawr  never  admitted  them.' 

Again,  Wellesley  and  Vassar  in  the  beginning  organized 
preparatory  departments  with  pupils  living  in  the  same  halls 
as  the  college  students  and  taught  in  great  part  by  the  same 
teachers.  The  presence  of  these  pupils  tended  to  turn  the 
colleges  into  boarding  schools,  and  the  steady  and  rapid 
development  of  Vassar  as  a  true  college  began  only  after  the 
closing  of  its  preparatory  department  in  1888  ;  until  this 
time  the  number  of  students  in  the  college  proper  had  been 
almost  stationary ;  Wellesley  closed  its  preparatory  depart- 
ment in  1880;  Smith  never  organized  one;  Bryn  Mawr 
never  organized  one ;  Mt.  Holyoke,  the  Woman's  college 
of  Baltimore,  and  Wells  college  have  all  closed  their  pre- 
paratory departments  within  the  last  seven  years." 

'To  the  women's  colleges  of  group  III  they  are  admitted  still  in  large  numbers, 
and  they  still  form  35.1  per  cent  of  all  the  undergraduate  students  in  the  affiliated 
college  of  Radcliffe,  and  35.7  per  cent  of  all  the  undergraduate  students  in  the 
affiliated  college  of  Barnard;  in  part,  perhaps,  because  these  colleges  are  largely 
dependent  upon  their  tuition  fees,  and  in  part  too,  no  doubt,  because  the 
presence  of  special  students  is  less  disadvantageous  where  there  is  no  dormitory 
life. 

'Colleges  for  women  draw  their  students  from  private  schools  to  a  much  greater 
extent  than  do  coeducational  colleges;  and  it  was  the  very  great  inefficiency  of  these 
schools  that  induced  the  earlier  colleges  for  women  to  organize  preparatory 
departments  of  their  own.  The  entrance  examinations  of  the  women's  colleges 
are  the  only  influence  for  good  that  has  ever  been  brought  to  bear  upon  the 
feeble  teaching  of  these  schools.  In  1874,  before  the  numbers  of  women  wish- 
ing to  prepare  for  college  were  great  enough  to  influence  the  private  schools, 
a  plan  for  raising  their  standard  was  devised  by  the  Woman's  education 
association   of   Boston,  at   whose  request  Harvard    university  for  7   years   con- 


24  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  [342 

It  seems  to  have  been  at  first  supposed  that  the  same 
standards  of  scholarship  need  not  be  applied  in  the  choice 
of  instructors  to  teach  women  as  in  that  of  instructors  to 
teach  men,  that  women  were  fittest  to  teach  women,  and  that 
the  personal  character  and  influerrce  of  the  woman  instructor 
in  some  mysterious  way  supplied  the  deficiency  on  her  part 
of  academic  training.  For  a  long  time  not  even  an  ordinary 
undergraduate  education  was  required  of  her,  and  there  are 
still  teaching  in  women's  colleges  too  many  women  without 
even  a  first  degree.  But  it  has  been  found  on  the  whole 
that  systematic  mental  training  is  best  imparted  by  those 
who  have  themselves  received  it ;  the  numbers  of  well- 
trained  women  are  increasing;  and  the  prejudice  against 
the  appointment  of  men  where  men  are  better  qualified  has 
almost  disappeared.' 

ducted  a  series  of  examinations  modeled  on  the  Oxford  and  Cambridge  higher 
local  examinations  which  have  been  such  an  efficient  agency  in  England.  Com- 
mittees of  women  were  organized  in  different  cities,  and  an  attempt  was  made 
to  induce  girls'  schools  to  send  up  candidates  for  these  examinations.  In  7  years, 
however,  only  106  candidates  offered  themselves  for  the  preliminary  examination, 
and  only  36  received  a  complete  certificate.  In  1881  the  entrance  examinations 
of  Harvard  college  were  substituted  for  these  special  women's  examinations,  in 
the  hope  that  the  interest  in  reaching  the  standard  set  by  Harvard  for  its  entering 
class  of  men  might  add  to  the  number  of  candidates;  but  even  after  this  change 
was  made  comparatively  few  candidates  took  the  examinations,  and  in  1896  the 
effort  was  discontinued;  the  Harvard  examinations  have  been  used  from  that 
time  onward  simply  as  the  ordinary  entrance  examinations  of  Radcliffe  college. 
In  Great  Britain  the  Cambridge  higher  local  examinations  are  taken  annually  by 
about  900  women.  There  was  needed  some  such  pressure  as  is  brought  to  bear 
by  pupils  determined  to  go  to  college  to  induce  private  schools  to  add  college 
graduates  to  their  staff  of  teachers.  The  requirements  for  admission  to  Bryn 
Mawr  college  have  to  my  personal  knowledge  been  a  most  important  factor  in 
introducing  college-bred  women  as  teachers  into  all  the  more  important  private 
girls'  schools  of  Philadelphia  and  in  many  private  schools  elsewhere;  and  every 
college  for  women  drawing  students  from  private  schools  has  the  same  experi- 
ence. On  the  other  hand,  every  relaxation  in  the  requirements  for  admission, 
such  as  the  practice  of  admitting  on  certificate  adopted  by  Vassar,  Wellesley 
and  Smith,  tends  to  deprive  girls'  schools  of  a  much  needed  stimulus.  Radcliffe 
and  Barnard,  like  Bryn  Mawr,  insist  upon  examination  for  admission  and  decline 
to  accept  certificates. 

'  Until  Bryn  Mawr  opened  in  1885  with  a  large  staff  of  young  unmarried  men, 
it  had  been  regarded  as  almost  out  of  the  question  to  appoint  unmarried  men  in 
a  women's  college;  now  they  are  teaching  in  all  colleges  for  women.  The  same 
instructors  pass  from  colleges  for  men  to  colleges  for  women  and  from  colleges 
for  women  to  colleges  for  men,  employing  in  each  the  same  methods  of  instruc- 


343]  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  25 

It  has  been  recognized  that  the  work  done  in  women's 
colleges  is  most  satisfactory  to  women  when  it  is  the  same 
in  quality  and  quantity  as  the  work  done  in  colleges  for  men, 
and  it  has  been  recognized  also  that  they  need  the  same 
time  for  its  performance.  Domestic  work,  therefore,  which 
by  the  founder  of  Wellesley  was  regarded  as  a  necessary 
part  of  women's  education,  is  at  present,  I  believe,  required 
nowhere  except  on  the  perfectly  plain  ground  of  economy. 
The  hour  of  domestic  service  originally  required  of  every 
student  in  Wellesley  was  abandoned  in  1896;  a  half-hour  is 
still  required  at  Mt.  Holyoke,  but  tuition,  board  and  resi- 
dence are  less  expensive  there.  The  time  given  to  domestic 
work  is  obviously  so  much  time  taken  from  academic  work. 

In  the  matter  of  discipline  the  tendency  has  been  toward 
ever-diminishing  supervision  by  the  college  authorities. 
Vassar  and  Wellesley  began  with  the  strict  regulations  of  a 
boarding  school ;  it  was  regarded  as  impossible  that  young 
women  living  away  from  home  should  be  in  any  measure 
trusted  with  the  control  of  their  own  actions.  Smith  from 
the  first  allowed  more  liberty,  in  part  because  many  of  her 
students  lived  in  boarding  houses  outside  the  college.  In 
all  three  colleges  the  restrictions  laid  upon  the  students 
have  been  gradually  lessened,  and  at  Vassar  there  is  at 
present  a  well-developed  system  of  what  is  known  as  "  lim- 
ited self-government,"  according  to  which  many  matters  of 
discipline  are  intrusted  to  the  whole  body  of  students. 
Bryn  Mawr  was  organized  with  a  system  of  self-government 
by  the  students  perhaps  more  far-reaching  than  was  then  in 
operation  in  any  of  the  colleges  for  men ;  the  necessary 
rules  are  made  by  the  Students'  association,  which  includes 
all  undergraduate  and  graduate  students,  and  enforced  by 
an  executive  committee  of  students  who  in  the  case  of  a 
serious  offense  may  recommend  the  suspension  or  expulsion 

tion.  Some  years  since  one  of  the  professors  at  Smith  college  received  at  the 
same  time  offers  of  a  post  at  the  Johns  Hopkins,  at  Columbia,  and  at  Bryn  Mawr; 
and  among  the  professors  the  most  successful  in  their  teaching  at  Princeton,  Chi- 
cago and  Columbia  are  men  whose  whole  experience  had  been  gained  in  teaching 
women  at  Bryn  Mawr. 


26  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  [344 

of  the  offender,  and  whose  recommendation,  when  sustained 
by  the  whole  association,  is  always  accepted  by  the  college. 
The  perfect  success  of  the  system  has  shown  that  there  is  no 
risk  in  relying  to  the  fullest  extent  on  the  discretion  of  a 
body  of  women  students. 

Affiliated  colleges' — There  are  five'  affiliated  colleges  in 
the  United  States —  Radcliffe  college,  Barnard  college,  the 
Women's  college  of  Brown  university,  the  College  for  Women 
of  Western  reserve  university,  and  the  H.  Sophie  Newcomb 
memorial  college  for  women  of  Tulane  university.^  The 
affiliated  college  in  America  is  modeled  on  the  English 
women's  colleges  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  with  such  modi- 
fications as  are  made  necessary  by  the  wholly  different 
constitution  of  English  and  American  universities.  These 
modifications,  however,  it  must  in  fairness  be  explained,  are 
so  essential  as  to  make  of  it  a  wholly  different  mstitution."* 

'  The  following  data  have  been  furnished  me  by  the  courtesy  of  the  presidents 
or  deans  of  the  colleges  concerned,  except  the  data  of  the  H.  Sophie  Newcomb 
memorial  college,  for  which  I  am  indebted  to  Professor  Evelyn  Ordway.  These 
data  are  for  the  year  1900;  the  numbers  of  instructors  and  students  have  been 
obtained  from  the  catalogues  for  1898-99. 

*  In  one  instance  only  —  that  of  Evelyn  college  in  New  Jersey  —  has  an  affiliated 
college,  once  established,  been  compelled  to  close  its  doors.  Evelyn,  however, 
partook  of  the  nature  of  a  private  enterprise  school,  and  was  begun  on  an  unaca- 
demic  basis  in  1887.  A  certain  number  of  Princeton  professors  consented  to 
serve  on  the  board  of  trustees  and  give  instruction  there,  but  it  was,  in  reality,  a 
young  ladies'  finishing  school  with  a  few  students  (in  1891,  22;  in  1B94,  18;  in 
1897,  14)  pursuing  collegiate  courses.  Music  and  accomplishments  were  made 
much  of,  and  in  1897  the  college  came  to  a  well-merited  end. 

*  Radcliffe  and  Barnard  are  the  only  two  of  the  affiliated  colleges  that  appear  in 
the  U.  S.  education  reports  in  division  A  of  women's  colleges.  The  students  of 
the  other  three  are  reported  under  Brown,  Western  reserve  and  Tulane  respec- 
tively, thus  giving  these  colleges  a  false  air  of  being  coeducational  in  their  under- 
graduate departments.  The  endowment  and  equipment  of  these  three  affiliated 
colleges,  although  entirely  independent  of  the  colleges  to  which  they  are  affili- 
ated, are  given  nowhere  separately.    ' 

*  It  is  difficult  for  those  interested  in  women's  education  in  England  to  under- 
stand the  existence  in  America  of  independent  colleges  for  women,  and  if  Ameri- 
can education  were  organized  like  English  education  they  would,  indeed,  have  no 
reason  to  exist.  In  an  English  university,  consisting,  as  it  does,  of  many  separate 
colleges  whose  students  live  in  their  separate  halls  of  residence,  are  taught 
by  their  own  teachers,  hear  in  common  with  the  students  of  other  colleges 
the  lectures  offered  by  the  central  university  organization,  and  compete  against 
each  other  in  honor  examinations  conducted  by  a  common  board  of  univer- 
sity   examiners,    the   colleges    for   women — at    Cambridge,   Girton    and   Newn- 


345] 


EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  27 


Radcliffe  college,  Cambridge,  Massachusetts '  —  Affiliated  to 
Harvard  university,  union  dissoluble  after  due  notice  ;  opened  by 
the  Society  for  the  collegiate  instruction  of  women  in  1879;  iricor- 
porated  as  Radcliffe  college  with  power  to  confer  degrees  in 
1894;  board  of  trustees  and  financial  management  separate  from 
Harvard  ;  B.  A.  and  M.  A.  degrees  conferred  by  Radcliffe  ;  Ph.  D. 
degree  as  yet  conferred  neither  by  RadcliiTe  nor  Harvard  ;  degrees, 
instructors,  and  academic  board  of  control,  subject  to  approval  of 
Harvard ;  no  instructors  not  instructors  at  Harvard  also ;  under- 
graduate instruction  at  Harvard  repeated  at  Radcliffe  at  discretion 

ham,  and  at  Oxford,  Somerville  hall.  Lady  Margaret  hall  and  St,  Hugh's  hall 
—  are  organized  in  precisely  the  same  way  as  colleges  for  men.  They  may, 
or  may  not,  be  as  well  equipped  as  the  best  men's  colleges,  but  the  difference  is  a 
matter  of  endowment,  not  of  university  organization  ;  there  are  differences  also 
between  the  various  colleges  for  men.  Examinations,  again,  play  a  far  more 
important  part  in  English  than  in  American  education.  There  are  in  Great  Brit- 
ain only  a  few  examining  and  degree-giving  bodies,  for  whose  examinations  all 
the  various  colleges  prepare  their  students.  The  degrees  mean  that  certain 
examinations  have  been  passed,  and  have  a  definite  and  universally  acknowledged 
value.  A  degree  given  by  an  American  college  means  that  the  person  receiving 
it  has  lived  for  some  time  in  a  community  of  a  certain  kind,  enjoying  certain 
opportunities  of  which  he  has  conscientiously  availed  himself.  For  this  reason 
no  one  of  the  491  colleges  of  the  United  States  enumerated  in  the  U.  S.  education 
report  for  1897-98  bestows  its  degree  in  recognition  of  examinations  passed  in 
any  other  college.  For  this  reason  Harvard  college  has  had  logic  on  its  side  in 
declining  to  confer  upon  the  students  completing  their  undergraduate  course  in 
Radcliffe  college  the  Harvard  B.  A.  They  have  not  lived  in  the  same  community, 
nor  yet  had  all  the  opportunities  of  the  Harvard  student.  The  certificate  received 
by  the  student  of  Girton  or  Newnham  represents  exactly  the  same  thing  as  the 
Cambridge  degree;  the  B.  A.  of  Radcliffe  does  not  represent  the  same  thing  as  the 
Harvard  B.  A.  What  is  represented  by  the  degrees  of  different  colleges  in  the 
United  States  may,  or  may  not,  be  equal,  but  never  is  the  same.  Nevertheless 
Columbia,  Brown,  Tulane  and  Western  reserve  confer  their  degrees  upon  the 
women  graduates  of  their  affiliated  colleges  for  women. 

'  The  first  American  affiliated  college  was  the  so-called  Harvard  annex,  which 
was  brought  into  existence  by  the  devoted  efforts  of  a  small  number  of  influential 
professors  of  Harvard  college,  who  voluntarily  formed  themselves  into  a 
"  Society  for  the  collegiate  instruction  of  women,"  and  repeated  each  week  to 
classes  of  women  the  lectures  and  class  work  they  gave  to  men  in  Harvard 
college.  The  idea  first  occurred  to  Mr.  Arthur  Oilman  in  1878.  Girton  college, 
Cambridge,  England,  after  which  the  annex  was  modeled,  had  then  been  in  suc- 
cessful operation  for  nine  years.  Mrs.  Louis  Agassiz,  the  widow  of  the  famous 
naturalist,  agreed  to  become  the  official  head  of  the  undertaking,  and  she  asso- 
ciated with  herself  other  influential  Boston  and  Cambridge  women.  Mr.  Arthur 
Oilman  became  the  secretary  of  the  society.  The  president  of  Harvard  college 
declared  that,  so  far  as  the  university  was  concerned,  the  professors  were  free 
to  teach  women  in  their  leisure  hours  if  they  chose.  The  annex  was  opened 
for  students  in  1879  in  a  rented  house  near  the  Harvard  campus  with  25 
students. 


2  8  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  [34.6 

of  instructors;  since  1893  women  admitted  to  graduate  and  semi- 
graduate  courses  given  in  Harvard,  at  discretion  of  instructor, 
subject  to  approval  of  the  Harvard  faculty;  in  1899,  64  such 
courses  open  to  Radcliffe  students ;  238  undergrad.  s. ;  54  grad.  s. ; 
129  special  s. ;  productive  funds  about  $430,000;  a  lecture  and 
library  building;  a  gymnasium ;  4  temporary  buildings  used  for 
lectures  and  laboratories  ;  a  students'  club  house  ;  no  residence  hall, 
but  one  about  to  be  built ;  total  cost  of  buildings  about  $110,000; 
vols,  in  library,  14,138;  access  to  Harvard  library  and  collections; 
scientific  laboratories  of  Harvard  not  available ;  cost  of  laboratory 
equipment  not  ascertainable,  inadequate  ;  acres  (in  city)  about  3  ; 
tuition  fee,  $200. 

Barnard  college,  New  York  city  —  Affiliated  to  Columbia  uni- 
versity, union  dissoluble  by  either  party  after  year's  notice ; 
opened  in  1889 ;  status  very  much  that  of  Radclifife  until  Janu- 
ary, 1900,  when  women  graduates  were  admitted  without  restric- 
tion to  the  graduate  school  of  Columbia,  registering  in  Columbia, 
not  as  heretofore  in  Barnard,  and  Barnard  was  incorporated  as  an 
undergraduate  women's  college  of  the  university,  its  dean  voting 
in  the  university  council,  and  the  president  of  Columbia  becoming 
its  president  and  a  member  of  its  board  of  trustees  ;  Barnard's 
faculty  consists  of  the  president  of  the  university,  the  dean  of  Bar- 
nard, and  instructors,  either  men  or  women,  nominated  by  the  dean, 
approved  by  Barnard  trustees  and  president  of  Columbia  and 
appointed  by  Columbia;  courses  for  A.  B.  degree  and  all  examina- 
tions determined  and  conducted  by  Barnard  faculty,  subject  to 
provisions  of  university  council  for  maintaining  integrity  of 
degree;  all  degrees  conferred  by  Columbia;  after  July  i,  1904,  no 
undergraduate  courses  in  Columbia,  except  in  the  Teachers'  col- 
lege, will  be  open  to  Barnard  seniors  as  heretofore,  complete 
undergraduate  work  will  be  given  separately  at  Barnard,  not  neces- 
sarily by  same  instructors  ;  131  undergrad.  s. ;  'jG  grad.  s. ;  73  special 
s. ;  productive  funds,  $150,000;  one  large  building  containing  lec- 
ture rooms,  laboratories  and  accommodation  for  65  students,  cost, 
$525,000;  vols,  in  reading  room,  1,000;  access  to  Columbia, 
library ;  scientific  laboratories  of  Columbia  not  available ;  cost 
of  laboratory  equipment  $9,250;  land  (in  city),  200x160  feet;  tui- 
tion fee,  $150. 

Women's  college  of  Brown  university,  Providence,  Rhode 
Island — Affiliated  to  Brown  university;  university  degrees  and 
examinations  opened  to  women,  and  their  undergraduate  instruc- 
tion informally  begun  in    1892  ;  women's  college  established   by 


347]  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  29 

Brown  university  as  a  regular  department  of  the  university  in  1897 
under  control  of  the  university  trustees ;  advisory  council  of  five 
women  appointed  by  trustees  to  advise  with  president  of  university 
and  dean  of  women's  college ;  funds  of  the  women's  college  held 
and  administered  separately  by  trustees ;  all  degrees  conferred  by 
Brown ;  women  and  men  examined  together ;  required  courses 
given  in  Brown  repeated  to  women  by  same  instructors  ;  all  instruc- 
tion given  by  Brown  instructors ;  all  graduate  work  in  Brown 
open  to  graduate  women  without  restriction  since  1892  ;  women 
recite  with  men  in  many  of  the  smaller  elective  undergradu- 
ate courses;  140  undergrad.  s. ;  38  grad.  s.  ;  25  special  s. ;  a  lec- 
ture hall  costing  $38,000 ;  no  residence  hall ;  access  to  Brown 
library ;  scientific  laboratories  of  Brown  not  available ;  very 
inadequate  laboratory  equipment ;  no  productive  funds ;  tuition 
fee,  $105. 

College  for  women  of  Western  reserve  university,  Cleveland, 
Ohio  —  Afifiliated  to  Western  reserve  university;  established  by 
Western  reserve  in  1888;  degrees  conferred  by  Western  reserve; 
graduate  department  of  Western  reserve  open  to  graduate  women 
without  restriction  ;  separate  financial  management  ;  separate 
faculty  21  (9  Ph.  D.s.) —  14  men,  7  women;  165  undergrad.  s. ;  18 
special  s.  ;  productive  funds,  about  $250,000 ;  a  lecture  hall,  a 
residence  hall  accommodating  40  students ;  total  cost  of  buildings, 
including  land,  about  $200,000;  3  laboratories  of  men's  college 
available  at  certain  times ;  access  to  Western  reserve  library ; 
tuition,  $85  ;  lowest  charge,  board,  room  rent  and  tuition  (beds 
made  by  students),  $335. 

H.  Sophie  Newcomb  memorial  college  for  women.  New 
Orieans,  Louisiana  —  Affiliated  with  Tulane  university,  but  situ- 
ated in  another  part  of  the  city  ;  founder,  Mrs.  Josephine  Louise 
Newcomb;  opened  1886;  under  control  of  board  of  trustees  of 
Tulane ;  graduate  department  of  Tulane  university  open  to  gradu- 
ate women  without  restriction  since  1890;  separate  financial  man- 
agement ;  separate  president  and  faculty  ;  8  instructors  (i  Ph.  D.)  — 
5  women,  2  without  first  degrees ;  3  men,  i  without  first  degree ; 
51  undergrad.  s. ;  34  special  s.  (10  in  gymnastics)  ;  54  s.  of  art ;  80 
pupils  in  preparatory  dept. ;  art  dept. ;  productive  funds,  $400,000  ; 
a  lecture  building,  a  chapel,  an  art  building,  a  pottery  building,  two 
residence  halls  accommodating  75  students,  a  high  school  building  ; 
total  cost  of  buildings  about  $225,000  ;  vols,  in  library  about  6,000  ; 
tuition,  $100;  lowest  charge,  board,  room  rent  (two  in  one  room, 
beds  made  by  students)  and  tuition,  $280. 


30  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  [348 

In  the  smaller  group,  which  includes  the  College  for  women 
of  Western  reserve  university  and  the  H.Sophie  Newcomb 
memorial  college,  the  affiliated  college  tends  to  become  an 
entirely  separate  institution  ;  in  its  instructors  and  instruc- 
tion it  differs  widely  from  the  institution  to  which  it  is  affili- 
ated ;  it  is,  in  fact,  a  different  college  called  into  existence  by 
the  same  authorities.  In  the  larger  group,  which  includes  the 
Women's  college  of  Brown,  Barnard  and  Radcliffe,  the  affili- 
ated college  tends  to  blend  itself  with  the  institution  to  which 
it  is  affiliated  in  a  new  coeducational  institution.  The  ideal 
in  view  is  a  complete  identity  of  instructors  and  instruction 
and  the  law  of  economy  of  force  forbids  attaining  this  ideal 
by  the  duplication  of  the  whole  instruction  given.  It  is  less 
wasteful  to  double  the  number  of  hearers  in  any  lecture 
room  than  to  repeat  the  lecture.  It  is  in  the  Women's  col- 
lege of  Brown  that  we  find  the  closest  affiliation  and, 
accordingly,  the  nearest  approach  to  coeducation.  The 
corporation  of  Brown  furnished  the  land  on  which  Pem- 
broke hall,  the  academic  building  of  the  Women's  college, 
was  erected,  and  accepted  the  gift  of  the  building  when 
it  was  completed ;  Brown  has  from  first  to  last  openly 
assumed  responsibility  for  its  affiliated  college  in  fact  as 
well  as  name.  In  the  graduate  department  of  Brown  there 
is,  as  has  been  said,  unrestricted  coeducation  ;  and  in  many 
of  the  smaller  undergraduate  elective  courses  women  are 
reciting  with  men.  In  the  graduate  department  of  Columbia 
there  is  now  unrestricted  coeducation.  It  is  in  the  case  of 
Radcliffe  that  there  is  least  approach  to  coeducation.  What 
has  made  possible  the  policy  pursued  at  Radcliffe  has  been 
the  self-sacrificing  zeal  of  many  eminent  Harvard  professors, 
willing  at  any  cost  of  inconvenience  to  give  to  women  what 
could  seemingly  on  no  other  terms  be  given ;  but  the  sacri- 
fice is  too  great,  and  in  the  modern  world  too  unnecessary ; 
it  is  at  present  almost  everywhere  possible  for  the  professor 
interested  in  educating  women  to  lighten  his  own  labors  by 
admitting  them  to  the  same  classes  with  men.  Only  the 
affiliated  colleges  of  the  second  group  present  in  their  inter- 


349]  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  3 1 

nal  organization  a  type  essentially  different  from  that  of  the 
independent  college  —  a  type  intermediate  between  the  inde- 
pendent and  the  coeducational. 

/ 

PROFESSIONAL  EDUCATION 

Graduate  instruction  in  the  faculty  of  philosophy  —  True  uni- 
versity instruction  begins  after  the  completion  of  the  college 
course,  and  very  little  such  instruction  is  given  by  any 
American  university'  except  in  the  so-called  graduate  schools 
belonging  to  the  twenty-three  colleges  in  the  United  States 
included  in  the  Federation  of  graduate  clubs. "^  In  the  follow- 
ing 1 6  of  these  23  graduate  schools  women  are  admitted 
without  restriction  and  compete  with  men  for  many  of  the 
scholarships  and  honors :  Yale,  Brown,  Cornell,  Columbia, 
New  York  university,  Pennsylvania,  Columbian,  Vanderbilt, 
Missouri,  Western  reserve,  Chicago,  Michigan,  Wisconsin, 
Minnesota,  California,  Leland  Stanford  Junior;  Bryn  Mawr 
and  Wellesley  admit  women  only ;  Harvard  admits  them 
to  certain  courses  through  the  mediation  of  Radcliffe. 
There  remain,  apart  from  the  Catholic  university,  only  3 
graduate  schools  excluding  women :  Clark,  Princeton  and 
the  Johns  Hopkins  university;  and  in  the  Johns  Hopkins 
they  are  admitted  to  at  least  one  university  department  — 
that  of  the  medical  school.^ 

'  The  medical  school  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  university  is  a  true  university  school, 
admitting  only  holders  of  the  bachelor's  degree;  the  law  school  of  Harvard  uni- 
versity is  practically  a  university  school,  although  seniors  in  Harvard  college  are 
received  as  students. 

'Out  of  the  58  most  important  American  colleges  enumerated  on  page  12  only 
23,  it  will  be  remembered,  appear  in  the  lists  of  the  Federation  of  graduate  clubs. 
Unfortunately  it  must  not  be  inferred  that  all  these  23  colleges  are  doing  true 
professional  work  and  offering  graduate  students  a  three  years'  course  leading  to 
the  degree  of  Ph.  D.  In  some  of  them  there  are  provided  only  courses  leading  to 
the  degree  of  A.  M.,  which,  like  the  degree  of  A.  B.,  indicating  general  culture. 
The  affiliated  college  of  Radcliffe  appears  in  the  list  of  graduate  clubs,  although 
it  can  scarcely  be  said  to  exist  independently  as  a  separate  graduate  school,  being 
virtually  the  portal  by  which  women  are  admitted  to  a  limited  amount  of  graduate 
work  at  Harvard.  In  1899-1900  only  12  graduate  lecture  courses  and  3  research 
courses  were  repeated  at  Radcliffe. 

^  The  graduate  courses  of  Clark  (which  has  no  undergraduate  department)  are 
few  in  number  and  attended  by  only  48  men  ;  the  exclusion  of  women  is,  there- 
fore, very  surprising  especially  as  the  principal  subjects  of  instructioa,  pedagogy. 


32  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  [35O 

In  1898-99  there  were  studying  in  these  23  gradu- 
ate schools  1,021  women,  forming  26.8  per  cent  of  the 
whole  number  of  graduate  students.'  In  1889-90  the  U. 
S.  education  report  estimates  that  there  were  271  women 
graduate  students  out  of  a  total  of  2,041  graduate  stu- 
dents, or  women  formed  13.27  per  cent  of  all  graduate 
students  ;  in  1897-98  the  report  for  that  year  estimates  that 
there  were  1,398  women  out  of  a  total  of  5,816  graduate 
students,  or  women  formed  24.04  per  cent  of  all  students  — 
a  remarkable  increase  as  compared  to  the  increase  of  men 
graduate  students  in  8  years. 

Graduate  fellowships  and  scholarships —  In  1899  there  were 
open  to  women  319  scholarships  varying  in  value  from  $100 
to  $400  (50  of  these  exclusively  for  women)  and  2  foreign 
scholarships  (i  exclusively  for  women)  ;  81  residence  fellow- 
ships of  the  value  of  $400  or  over  (18  of  these  exclusively 
for  women)  ;  24  foreign  fellowships  of  the  value  of  $500 
and  upwards  (12  of  these  exclusively  for  women). ^ 

experimental  psychology  and  the  like,  are  of  peculiar  interest  to  women.  The 
exclusion  of  women  from  all  but  the  medical  department  of  the  Johns  Hopkins 
university  is  really  of  serious  import,  because  the  Johns  Hopkins  university,  judged 
not  by  numbers  but  by  scholarly  research  and  publication,  the  number  of  Ph.  D. 
degrees  conferred,  and  the  important  college  and  university  positions  filled  by  its 
graduates,  has  long  been,  and  perhaps  is  still,  the  most  important  graduate  school 
in  the  United  States.  Its  attitude  toward  women  is  to  be  accounted  for  in  part 
by  its  location,  and  in  part  by  the  fact  that  its  management  is  in  the  hands  of  a 
self-perpetuating  board  of  twelve  trustees  appointed  originally  by  the  founder, 
and  without  exception  Baltimoreans,  so  that  no  pressure  can  be  brought  to  bear 
upon  the   corporation  from  more  progressive  sections  of  the  country. 

'  These  figures  are  taken  from  the  Graduate  handbook  for  1899,  published  by  the 
Federation  of  graduate  clubs.  Of  these  the  greatest  number  studying  in  any  one 
institution  in  the  west  was  to  be  found  in  the  University  of  Chicago,  and  the  next 
greatest  in  the  University  of  California;  the  greatest  number  studying  in  any  cJne 
institution  in  the  east  was  to  be  found  at  Barnard-Columbia,  and  the  next  great- 
est at  Bryn  Mawr.  There  were  studying  in  the  graduate  departments  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Chicago  (including  summer  students)  276  women;  in  the  University  of 
California,  90  ;  in  Barnard-Columbia,  82;  in  Bryn  Mawr,  61;  in  Radcliffe-Harvard, 
58;  in  Yale,  42;  in  Cornell,  36;  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  34.  The  posi- 
tion of  Bryn  Mawr  in  this  series  seems  to  show  conclusively  that  an  independ- 
ent woman's  college  maintaining  a  sufficiently  high  standard  of  instruction  may 
compete  successfully  for  students  with  much  larger  and  older  coeducational 
foundations. 

*  See  Fellowships  and  graduate  scholarships,  published  by  the  Association  of 
collegiate  alumnae,  Richmond  Hill,  N.  Y.,  Ill  Series,  No.  2,  July,  1899. 


Comparative  table  of  the  progress  of  coeducation  and  increase  of 
women  students  from  i8go  to  i8g8  and  i8gg  in  theology,  law,  medi- 
cine, dentistry,  pharmacy,  schools  of  technology  and  agriculture. 


Theology 

Law ...•.••!•• 

Medicine  (regular  and  irregular)  4. . 

Den  tistry 

Pharmacy , 

Schools  of  technology  and  agricul- 
ture endowed  with  national  land 
grants 


4>   >» 

O 
O   V 

^  6 
u  " 
Si  u 

e£ 

3 


No  women 
reported 

No  women 
reported 


67 

13 

'  46 

14 

12 

40.7 
48.1 

SS-2 


46.2 


O  tl 

^  6 

J3   !; 


48 


41.2 

74-4 
53-7 
78.6 
8a. 3 


i8go 


it 


o  S 
it -a 


No  women 

reported 

No  women 

reported 

854        S-S 

53        »-o 

60        2.1 


198 

147 

1397 

1 6a 

'74 


3381 


6  S 

o  a 

V  3 


1-3 

6.0 

2-4 

4-7 


'  The  numbers  of  coeducational  and  other  professional  schools  are  estimated  from 
the  U.  S.  ed.  rep.   for  1889-go. 

''Through  the  kindness  of  Mr.  James  Russell  Parsons,  Jr.,  author  of  the  mono- 
graph on  professional  education  in  the  United  States,  published  as  one  of  this 
series,  I  am  able  to  insert  the  figures  for  1899,  see  p.  3i.  By  personal  inquiry 
I  have  been  able  to  add  four  to  his  list  of  coeducational  schools  of  theology. 

'The  number  of  professional  students  for  the  year  1898  is  taken  from  the  U.  S. 
ed.  rep.  for  1897-98. 

*For  the  sake  of  clearness  I  have  omitted  from  the  above  table  the  7  separate 
medical  schools  for  women,  although  I  have  counted  their  students  in  the  total 
number  of  women  medical  students,  both  in  1890  and  1898.  In  1890  there  were 
studying  in  the  6  regular  medical  women's  colleges  425  women,  as  against  648 
women  in  coeducational  regular  medical  colleges;  in  1898  there  were  studying 
in  them  411  women,  as  against  1045  in  coeducational  colleges,  a  decrease  of 
3.3  per  cent,  whereas  women  students  in  coeducational  medical  colleges  have 
increased  16.3  per  cent.  I  limit  the  comparison  to  regular  medical  schools 
because  women  have  increased  relatively  more  rapidly  in  irregular  medical 
schools  and  there  is  only  one  separate  irregular  medical  school  for  women.  It  is 
sometimes  said  that  women  prefer  medical  sects  because  the  proportion  of  women 
studying  in  irregular  schools  is  relatively  greater  than  the  proportion  studying  in 
regular  schools;  but  in  1898,  85.7  per  cent  of  the  irregular  schools  were  coeduca- 
tional and  only  46.6  per  cent  of  regular  schools,  a  fact  which  undoubtedly  increases 
the  proportion  of  students  studying  in  irregular  schools. 

"The  statistics  for  the  schools  of  technology  and  agriculture  are  taken  from  the 
U.  S.  education  report  for  1889-90,  pp.  1053-1054,  and  from  the  report  for  1897-98, 
pp.  1985-1988.  I  have  excluded  schools  of  technology  not  endowed  with  the 
national  land  grant.  In  1890  there  were  27  of  such  schools  (5  of  them  coeduca- 
tional); in  1898  their  number  had  fallen  to  17  (3  of  them  coeducational).  Very 
few  women  are  studying  in  these  schools;  in  1898  women  formed  only  0.2  per 
cent  of  all  students  studying  in  them. 


35 1 ]  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  33 

Theolog^y,  law,  medicine,  dentistry,  pharmacy,  veterinary 
science,  schools  of  technology  and  agriculture  — Ten  years  ago 
there  were  very  few  women  studying  in  any  of  these  schools. 
The  wonderful  increase  both  in  facilities  for  professional 
study  and  in  the  number  of  women  students  during  the  last 
eight  years  may  be  seen  by  referring  to  the  comparative 
tive  table  on  the  opposite  page. 

It  is  evident  to  the  impartial  observer  that  coeducation  is  to 
be  the  method  in  professional  schools.  Except  in  medicine, 
where  women  were  at  first  excluded  from  coeducational  study 
by  the  strongest  prejudice  that  has  ever  been  conquered  in  any 
movement,  no  important  separate  professional  schools,  indeed 
none  whatever,  except  one  unimportant  school  of  pharmacy 
have  been  founded  for  women  only.'  It  is  evident  also  that 
the  number  of  women  entering  upon  professional  study  is 
increasing  rapidly.  If  we  compare  the  relative  increase  of 
men  and  of  women  from  1890  to  1898  we  obtain  the  follow- 
ing percentages :  increase  of  students  in  medicine,  men, 
5 1. 1  per  cent,  women,  64.2  per  cent ;  in  dentistry,  men,  150.2 
per  cent,  women,  205.7  per  cent ;  in  pharmacy,  men,  25.9  per 
cent,  women,  190  per  cent;  in  technology  and  agriculture, 
men,  119.3  per  cent,  women,  194.7  per  cent 

GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS 

There  are  many  questions  connected  with  the  college  edu- 
cation of  American  women  which  possess  great  interest 
for  the  student  of  social  science. 

Number  of  college  women — In  the  year  1897-98*  there 
were  studying  in  the  undergraduate  and  graduate  depart- 
ments of  coeducational  colleges  and  universities  17,338 
women,  and  in  the  undergraduate  and  graduate  depart- 
ments of  independent  and  affiliated  women's  colleges,  divis- 
ion  A,  4,959  women,  women  forming  thus  27.4  per  cent  of 

*  A  private  law  school  for  women  existed  for  some  years  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
founded  by  Madame  Kempin,  a  graduate  of  the  University  of  Zurich.  At  the 
request  of  the  Women's  legal  education  society  it  was  incorporated  with  the  New 
York  University  law  school. 

'See  U.  S.  ed.  rep.  1897-98,  p.  1825,  corrected  according  to  note  i,  page  15  of  this 
monograph. 


34  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  [352 

the  total  number  of  graduate  and  undergraduate  students. 
The  22  colleges  belonging  to  the  Association  of  collegiate 
alumnae,  which  are,  on  the  whole,  the  most  important  colleges 
in  the  United  States  admitting  women,  have  conferred  the 
bachelor's  degree  on  12,804  women.  If  we  add  to  these 
the  graduates  of  the  Women's  college  of  Brown  univer- 
sity, 102  in  number,  and  the  graduates  of  the  14  additional 
coeducational  colleges  included  in  my  list  of  the  58  most 
important  colleges  in  the  United  States,  we  obtain,  including 
those  graduating  in  June,  1899,  a  total  of  14,824  women "* 
holding  the  bachelor's  degree.'  There  is  thus  formed,  even 
leaving  out  of  account  the  graduates  of  the  minor  colleges, 
a  larger  body  of  educated  women  than  is  to  be  found  in 
any  other  country  in  the  world.  These  graduates  have 
received  the  most  strenuous  college  training  obtainable  by 
women  in  the  United  States,  which  does  not  differ  materially 
from  the  best  college  training  obtainable  by  American  men 
(indeed,  women  graduates  of  coeducational  colleges  have 
received  precisely  the  same  training  as  men),  and  may  fairly 
be  compared  with  the  women  who  have  received  college  and 
university  training  abroad.  In  other  countries  women  uni- 
versity graduates,  or  even  women  who  have  studied  at 
universities,  are  very  few ;'  in  America,  on  the  other  hand, 

'  The  number  of  women  graduates  has  been  obtained  in  every  case  through  the 
courtesy  of  the  presidents  of  the  colleges  concerned.  In  some  cases  the  women 
graduates  have  had  to  be  selected  from  the  total  number  of  graduates  and 
counted  separately  for  the  purpose.  As  the  figures  have  never  been  printed 
before,  I  give  them  below:  22  colleges  belonging  to  the  Association  of  collegiate  alumnce  : — 
coeducational  colleges:  Boston,  522  graduates;  California,  440;  Chicago,  267;  Cor- 
nell, 517;  Kansas,  259;  Leland  Stanford,  Jr.,  28g,  Massachusetts  institute  tech- 
nology, 45;  Michigan,  940;  Minnesota,  458;  Nebraska,  263  ;  Northwestern,  317; 
Oberlin,  1,486;  Syracuse,  508;  Wesleyan,  118;  Wisconsin,  620,  Independent  col- 
leges: Vassar,  1,509;  Wellesley,  1,727;  Smith,  1,679;  Bryn  Mawr,  321.  Affiliated 
colleges:  Radcliffe,  278;  Barnard,  106;  College  for  women  of  Western  reserve,  135. 
Additional  colleges,  15  in  number:  Women's  college  of  Brown,  102;  Cincinnati,  99; 
Columbian,  60;  Colorado,  about  70;  Illinois,  131;  Indiana,  282;  Iowa,  340;  Maine, 
28;  Missouri,  no  record;  Ohio  State  university,  150;  Ohio  Wesleyan,  615;  Texas,  60 
Vanderbilt,  11;  Washington  (St.  Louis),  55;  West  Virginia,  17.  Total,  14,824 
women  graduates. 

'  The  number  of  women  studying  in  universities  in  Germany  in  1898-99  was 
approximately  471,  probably  mainly  foreigners  (statistics  given  in  the  Hochschul 
Nachrichten,  Minerva,  etc.);  in  France  in  1896-97,  approximately  410,  of  whom  83 


353] 


EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  35 


the  higher  education  of  women  has  assumed  the  proportions 
of  a  national  movement  still  in  progress.  We  may  perhaps 
be  able  to  guide  in  some  degree  its  future  development,  but 
it  has  passed  the  experimental  stage  and  can  no  longer  be 
opposed  with  any  hope  of  success.  Its  results  are  to  be 
reckoned  with  as  facts. 

Health  of  college  women ' —  Those  who  have  come  into  con- 
tact with   some  of  the  many  thousands  of  healthy  normal 

•were  foreigners  (Les  Universittfs  fran^aises,  by  M.  Louis  Liard;  vol.  2  of  Special 
Reports  on  Educational  Subjects,  Education  department,  London,  1898)  ;  in 
England  and  Wales  in  1897-98,  approximately  2,348.  (See  catalogues  of  different 
colleges.)  The  total  number  of  women  graduates  in  England  and  Wales  who  have 
received  degrees,  or  their  equivalent,  from  English  and  Welsh  universities  is 
about  2,180. 

'  Two  statistical  investigations  of  the  health  of  college  women  have  been  under- 
taken; one  in  America  in  1882,  which  tabulated  various  data  connected  with  the 
health,  occupation,  marriage,  birth  rate,  etc.,  of  705  graduates  of  the  12  American 
colleges  belonging  at  that  time  to  the  Association  of  collegiate  alumnae  (Health 
statistics  of  women  college  graduates;  report  of  a  special  committee  of  the  Associ- 
ation of  collegiate  alumnae,  Annie  G.  Howes,  chairman;  together  with  statistical 
tables  collated  by  the  Massachusetts  bureau  of  statistics  of  labor.  Boston:  Wright 
and  Potter  Printing  Co.,  18  Post  Office  Square.  1885),  and  one  in  England  in 
1887  (Health  statistics  of  women  students  of  Cambridge  and  Oxford  and  of  their 
sisters,  by  Mrs.  Henry  Sidgwick,  Cambridge  university  press,  1890).  The  English 
statistics  dealt  with  566  women  students  (honor  students  who  had  taken  tripos 
examinations  and  final  honors,  and  women  who  had  been  in  residence  three,  two 
and  one  year)  of  Newnham  and  Girton  colleges,  Cambridge,  and  of  Lady  Margaret 
and  Somerville  halls  at  Oxford.  It  was  found  that  in  England  75  per  cent  of  the 
honor  students  were  at  the  time  of  the  investigation  in  excellent  or  good  health. 
It  was  found  that  in  America  78  per  cent  of  the  graduates  were  at  the  time  of  the 
investigation  in  good  health  and  5  per  cent  in  fair  health.  In  estimating  the 
result  of  this  investigation  it  is  difficult  to  find  a  standard  of  comparison.  There 
is  no  way  of  knowing  what  percentage  of  good  health  is  to  be  expected  in  the 
case  of  the  average  woman  who  has  not  been  to  college.  It  is  stated  in  the  Ameri- 
can health  investigation,  page  10,  that  Dr.  Mary  Putnam  Jacobi,  while  obtaining 
data  for  her  monograph  on  the  question  of  rest  for  women,  found  that  of  246 
women  only  56  -|-  per  cent  were  in  good  health.  The  American  statistics  were 
compared  with  the  results  obtained  in  an  investigation  of  the  condition  of  1,032 
working  women  of  Boston,  made  by  the  Massachusetts  bureau  of  statistics  of 
labor;  the  comparison  showed  that  the  health  of  college  women  was  more  satis- 
factory than  the  health  of  working  women.  The  English  statistics  were  com- 
pared with  the  health  statistics  of  450  sisters  or  first  cousins  who  had  not  received 
a  college  education,  and  it  was  found  that,  at  all  periods,  about  5  per  cent  less  of 
honor  graduates  were  in  bad  health  than  of  sisters  and  cousins.  The  compara- 
tive tables  showed  that  the  married  graduates  were  healthier  than  their  married 
sisters,  that  there  were  fewer  childless  marriages  among  them,  that  they  had  a 
larger  proportion  of  children  per  year  of  married  life,  and  that  their  children 
were  healthier. 


36  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  [354 

women  studying  in  college  at  the  present  time,  or  who  have 
had  an  opportunity  to  know  something  of  the  after-lives  of 
even  a  small  number  of  college  women,  believe  that  experi- 
ence has  proved  them  to  be,  both  in  college,  and  after  leav- 
ing college,  on  the  whole,  in  better  physical  condition  than 
other  women  of  the  same  age  and  social  condition.  Since, 
however,  people  who  have  not  the  opportunity  of  knowledge 
at  first  hand  continue  to  regard  the  health  of  college  women 
as  a  subject  open  for  discussion,  a  new  health  investigation, 
based  on  questions  sent  to  the  12,804  graduates  of  the  22 
colleges  belonging  to  the  Association  of  collegiate  alumnae,  is 
now  in  progress.  The  statistical  tables  will  be  collated  a 
second  time  by  the  Massachusetts  bureau  of  statistics  of 
labor  and  sent  to  the  Paris  exposition  as  part  of  the  educa- 
tional exhibit  of  the  Association  of  collegiate  alumnae.^ 

Marriage  rate  of  college  women  —  Here  again  no  positive 
conclusions  can  be  reached  until  we  know  what  is  the  usual 
marriage  rate  of  women  belonging  to  the  social  class  of 
women  graduates.  Everything  indicates  that  the  time  of 
marriage  is  becoming  later  in  the  professional  classes  and 
that  the  marriage  rate  as  a  whole  is  decreasing.  An  inves- 
tigation undertaken  simultaneously  with  the  new  health 
investigation  by  the  Association  of  collegiate  alumnae  will 
-enable  us  to  speak  with  certainty  in  regard  to  the  marriage 
rate  of  a  large  number  of  college  women  and  their  sisters.* 

*  The  health,  marriage  rate,  birth  rate,  etc.,  of  woman  graduates  will  be  com- 
pared in  every  case  with  the  corresponding  statistics  for  the  women  relatives 
nearest  in  age  who  have  not  received  a  college  education;  an  attempt  will  also  be 
made  to  obtain  corresponding  statistics  for  the  nearest  men  relatives  who  are 
college  graduates. 

'  The  health  investigation  of  English  women  students  showed  that  the  average 
age  of  marriage  for  students  was  26.70  as  against  25.53  for  sisters,  and  that  10.25 
per  cent  of  the  students  were  married  and  19.33  per  cent  of  the  sisters,  or,  omit- 
ting the  students  who  had  just  left  college  when  the  returns  were  sent  in,  about 
12  per  cent  of  students.  The  rate  of  marriage  of  students  after  their  college 
course  was  completed  and  of  their  sisters  seemed  to  be  the  same,  the  difference  in 
the  total  number  of  marriages  being  apparently  accounted  for  by  causes  existing 
before  the  termination  of  the  college  course,  "  possibly  the  desire  to  go  to  college, 
or  to  remain  in  college  may  be  among  them,  but  having  been  in  college  is  not  one 
of  them."  (See  summary  of  results  by  Mrs.  Sidgwick,  page  59.)  Mrs.  Sidgwick 
concludes  as  a  result  of  the  investigation  that  not  more  than  one-half  of  English 


Marriage  rate  of  college  women 


Percentage  of 
graduates 
married 


Vassar 

Kansas 

Minnesota 

Cornell    

Syracuse  

Wesleyan  . . , . , 

Nebraska 

Boston 

Wellesley 

Smith 

Radcliffe 

Bryn  Mawr 

Barnard 

Leland  Stanford  Junior. 
Chicago 


35-1 
31-3 
24.5 

31.0 

24-3 
22.2 

18.4 

16.5 

15.2 

10.4 

9  7 

9-4 


It  will  be  seen  that  independent,  affiliated  and  coeducational  colleges  fall 
into  their  proper  place  in  the  series,  thus  showing  conclusively  that  the  method 
of  obtaining  a  college  education  exercises  scarcely  any  appreciable  influence  on 
the  marriage  rate. 

The  marriage  rate  of  Bryn  Mawr  college,  calculated  in  January,  1900,  will  also 
serve  as  an  illustration  of  the  importance  of  time  in  every  consideration  of  the 
marriage  rate  :  graduates  of  the  class  of  1889,  married,  40.7  per  cent;  graduates  of 
the  first  two  classes,  1889-1890,  married,  40.0  per  cent;  graduates  of  the  first  three 
classes,  1889-1891,  married,  33.3  per  cent;  graduates  of  the  first  four  classes,  1889- 
1892,  married,  32.9  per  cent;  graduates  of  the  first  five  classes,  1889-1893,  married, 
31.0  per  cent;  graduates  of  the  first  six  classes,  1889-1894,  married,  30.0  per  cent; 
graduates  of  the  first  seven  classes,  1889-1895,  married,  25.2  per  cent;  graduates 
of  the  first  eight  classes,  1889-1896,  married,  22.8  per  cent;  graduates  of  the  first 
nine  classes,  1889-1897,  married,  20.9  per  cent;  graduates  of  the  first  ten  classes, 
1889-1898,  married,  17.2  per  cent;  graduates  of  the  first  eleven  classes,  1889-1899, 
married,  15.2  per  cent. 


355]  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  37 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  element  of  time  is 
very  important,  and  in  the  case  of  women  the  later  and 
therefore  younger  classes  are  all  larger  than  the  earlier 
ones,  see  table  on  opposite  page). 

Occupations  of  college  women  —  It  is  probable  that  about 
50  per  cent  of  women  graduates  teach  for  at  least  a  cer- 
tain number  of  years.  Of  the  705  women  graduates  whose 
occupations  were  reported  in  the  Association  of  collegiate 
alumnae  investigation  of  1883  50.2  percent  were  then  teach- 
ing. In  1895  of  1,082  graduates  of  Vassar  37.7  per  cent 
were  teaching ;  2.0  per  cent  were  engaged  in  graduate  study 
and  3.0  per  cent  were  physicians  or  studying  medicine.  In 
1898  of  171  graduates  (all  living)  of  Radcliffe  college,  includ- 
ing the  class  of  1898,  49.7  per  cent  were  teaching;  8.7  per 
cent  were  engaged  in  graduate  study ;  .6  per  cent  were 
studying  medicine  ;  17.5  per  cent  were  unmarried  and  with- 
out professional  occupation'.  In  1899  of  316  living  gradu- 
ates of  Bryn  Mawr  college,  including  the  class  of  1899,  39.0 
percent  were  teaching;  11.4  were  engaged  in  graduate 
study ;  6  per  cent  were  engaged  in  executive  work  (includ- 
ing 4  deans  of  colleges,  3  mistresses  of  college  halls  of 
residence)  ;  1.6  per  cent  were  studying  or  practising  medi- 
cine, and  26.6  per  cent  were  unmarried  and  without  profes- 
sional occupation.^ 

Coeducation  vs.  separate  education —  It  is  clear  that  coedu- 
cation is  the  prevailing  method  in  the  United  States;  it  is 
the  most  economical  method ;  indeed  it  is  the  only  possible 

women  of  the  social  class  of  women  students  or  their  sisters  marry.  The  Ameri- 
can investigation  of  1883  showed  that  27.8  per  cent  of  the  American  college  gradu- 
ates, their  average  age  being  28  1-2  years,  were  at  that  time  married,  and  that, 
judging  by  the  indications  of  the  marriage  percentages  among  older  graduates, 
about  50  per  cent  were  likely  sooner  or  later  to  be  married.  In  an  investigation 
of  the  marriage  of  Vassar  graduates  made  in  1895,  and  not  including  the  graduates 
of  that  year,  it  was  found  that  rather  under  38  per  cent  of  the  whole  number  of 
students,  and  about  63  per  cent  of  the  first  four  classes,  were  married,  see 
Frances  M.  Abbott:  A  Generation  of  college  women.  The  Forum,  vol.  XX,  p.  378. 
Out  of  the  total  number  of  8,956  graduates,  including  those  graduating  in  June, 
1899,  of  the  16  colleges  belonging  to  the  Association  of  collegiate  alumnae  that 
have  kept  accurate  marriage  statistics,  2,059  ^^^  married,  or  23.0  per  cent. 

•  Mrs.  Sidgwick's  investigation  showed  that  77  per  cent  of  all  English  students 
reporting,  and  83  per  cent  of  honor  students,  had  engaged  in  educational  work. 


38  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  [35^ 

method  in  most  parts  of  the  country.  Now  that  it  has  been 
determined  in  America  to  send  girls  as  well  as  boys  to  college, 
it  becomes  impossible  to  duplicate  colleges  for  women  in  every 
part  of  this  vast  country.  If,  as  is  shown  by  the  statistics 
given  in  the  successive  reports  of  the  commissioner  of  edu- 
cation, men  students  in  college  are  increasing  faster  far  than 
the  ratio  of  the  population,  and  women  college  students 
are  increasing  faster  still  than  men,'  it  will  tax  all  our 
resources  to  make  adequate  provision  for  men  and  women 
in  common.  Only  in  thickly-settled  parts  of  the  country, 
where  public  sentiment  is  conservative  enough  to  justify  the 
initial  outlay,  have  separate  colleges  for  women  been  estab- 
lished, and  these  colleges,  without  exception,  have  been 
private  foundations.  Public  opinion  in  the  United  States 
almost  universally  demands  that  universities  supported  by 
public  taxation  should  provide  for  the  college  education  of 
the  women  of  the  state  in  which  they  are  situated.  The 
separate  colleges  for  women  speaking  generally  are  to  be 
found  almost  exclusively  in  the  narrow  strip  of  colonial  states 
lying  along  the  Atlantic  seaboard.  The  question  is  often 
asked,  whether  women  prefer  coeducation  or  separate  educa- 
tion. It  seems  that  in  the  east  they  as  yet  prefer  separate 
education,  and  this  preference  is  natural."     College  life  as 

'  Between  1890  and  1898  women  undergraduate  students  have  increased  111.8 
per  cent,  and  men  undergraduate  students  have  increased  51.2  per  cent. 

*  In  the  college  departments  of  coeducational  colleges  the  average  number  of 
women  studying  is  48.4,  whereas  in  the  college  departments  of  independent  women's 
colleges  the  average  number  of  women  studying  is  331.91,  and  in  affiliated  col- 
leges 192.8.  In  1897-98  II. 4  per  cent  of  all  the  women  studying  in  coeducational 
colleges  obtained  the  bachelor's  degree,  whereas  13.4  per  cent  of  all  the  women 
studying  in  independent  women's  colleges  obtained  the  bachelor's  degree,  which 
indicates  probably  that  women  prefer  women's  colleges  for  four  years  of  resi- 
dence. In  the  same  year  13.3  per  cent  of  all  men  undergraduate  students  obtained 
the  bachelor's  degree.  The  average  number  of  graduates  of  the  4  women's  col- 
leges belonging  to  the  Association  of  collegiate  alumnae  is  1,309  per  college,  the 
average  age  of  the  colleges  being  23  years;  the  average  number  of  graduates  of 
the  15  coeducational  colleges  belonging  to  the  Association  of  college  alumnae  is 
only  469.9,  although  the  average  age  of  the  colleges  is  27.7  years.  During  the  8 
years  from  1890  to  1898,  women  undergraduate  students  have  increased  in  coedu- 
cational colleges  105.4  per  cent,  whereas  they  have  increased  in  women's  colleges, 
division  A,  138.4  per  cent.  Precisely  the  reverse  is  true  of  men  students  (see 
pp.  14  and  15,  including  foot  notes). 


357]  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  39 

it  is  organized  in  a  woman's  college  seems  to  conservative 
parents  less  exposed,  more  in  accordance  with  inherited  tradi- 
tions. Consequently,  girls  who  in  their  own  homes  lead 
guarded  lives,  are  to  be  found  rather  in  women's  colleges 
than  in  coeducational  colleges.  From  the  point  of  view  of 
conservative  parents,  there  is  undoubtedly  serious  objection 
to  intimate  association  at  the  most  impressionable  period  of 
a  girl's  life  with  many  young  men  from  all  parts  of  the  country 
and  of  every  possible  social  class.  From  every  point  of  view 
it  is  undesirable  to  have  the  problems  of  love  and  marriage 
presented  for  decision  to  a  young  girl  during  the  four  years 
when  she  ought  to  devote  her  energies  to  profiting  by  the 
only  systematic  intellectual  training  she  is  likely  to  receive 
during  her  life.  Then,  too,  for  the  present,  much  of  the  cul- 
ture and  many  of  the  priceless  associations  of  college  life  are 
to  be  obtained,  whether  for  men  or  women,  only  by  residence 
in  college  halls,  and  no  coeducational,  or  even  affiliated,  col- 
leges have  as  yet  organized  for  their  students  such  a  com- 
plete college  life  as  the  independent  woman's  college.  So 
long  as  this  preference,  and  the  grounds  for  it,  exist,  we  must 
see  to  it  that  separate  colleges  for  women  are  no  less  good 
than  colleges  for  men.  In  professional  schools,  including  the 
graduate  school  of  the  faculty  of  philosophy,  coeducation  is 
even  at  present  almost  the  only  method.  There  are  in  the 
United  States  only  4  true  graduate  schools  for  men  closed 
to  women,  and  only  i  independent  graduate  school  main- 
tained for  women  offering  three  years'  consecutive  work 
leading  to  the  degree  of  Ph.  D.  There  is  every  reason  to 
believe  that  as  soon  as  large  numbers  of  women  wish  to 
enter  upon  the  study  of  theology,  law  and  medicine,  all  the 
professional  schools  now  existing  will  become  coeducational. 
A  modified  vs.  an  unmodified  curriculum  —  The  progress  of 
women's  education,  as  we  have  traced  it  briefly  from  its 
beginning  in  the  coeducational  college  of  Oberlin  in  1833, 
and  the  independent  woman's  college  of  Vassar  in  1865,  has 
been  a  progress  in  accordance  with  the  best  academic  tradi- 
tions of  men's  education.     In  1870  we  could  not  have  pre- 


40  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  [358 

dieted  the  course  to  be  taken  by  the  higher  education  of 
women  ;  the  separate  colleges  for  women  might  have  devel- 
oped into  something  wholly  different  from  what  we  had  been 
familiar  with  so  long  in  the  separate  colleges  for  men.  A 
female  course  in  coeducational  colleges  in  which  music  and 
art  were  substituted  for  mathematics  and  Greek  might  have 
met  the  needs  of  the  women  students.  After  thirty  years 
of  experience,  however,  we  are  prepared  to  say  that  what- 
ever changes  may  be  made  in  future  in  the  college  curriculum 
will  be  made  for  men  and  women  alike.  After  all,  women 
themselves  must  be  permitted  to  be  the  judges  of  what  kind 
of  intellectual  discipline  they  find  most  truly  serviceable. 
They  seem  to  have  made  up  their  minds,  and  hereafter  may 
be  trusted  to  see  to  it  that  an  inferior  education  shall  not 
be  offered  to  them  in  women's  colleges,  or  elsewhere,  under 
the  name  of  a  modified  curriculum. 


Department   of  Education 

FOR  THE 

United    States   Commission    to    the    Paris   Exposition    of   1900 


MONOGRAPHS    ON     EDUCATION 

IN  THE 

UNITED     STATKS 

edited  by 

NICHOLAS  MURRAY  BUTLER 
Professor  of  Philosophy  and  Education  in  Columbia  University,  New  York 


8 

THE   TRAINING   OF  TEACHERS 

BY 

B.  A.  HINSDALE 
Professor  of  the  Science  and  Art  of  Teaching  in  the  University  of  Michigan 


This  Monograph  is  contributed  to  the  United  States  Educational  Exhibit  bt  ths 

State  of  New  York 


THE  TRAINING  OF  TEACHERS 


The  agencies  of  an  institutional  character  for  training 
teachers  in  the  United  States  are  the  following:  Normal 
schools  and  colleges,  teachers'  training  classes,  teachers' 
institutes,  summer  schools,  university  extension  lectures, 
teachers'  reading  circles,  chairs  of  education  in  colleges  and 
universities,  and  teachers'  colleges.  None  of  these  agencies 
go  far  back  in  our  history ;  all  of  them,  on  the  contrary, 
sprang  directly  or  indirectly  out  of  the  educational  revival 
that  began  to  show  marked  power  in  the  most  progressive 
countries  early  in  the  present  century.  We  shall  under- 
stand the  origin  and  development  of  these  agencies  the 
better  if  we  first  glance  at  the  preparation  of  teachers  in  the 
period  preceding  this  revival. 

The  first  thing  to  be  considered  is  the  fact  that  the  train- 
ing of  teachers,  as  the  phrase  is>  now  understood,  had  pre- 
viously been  wholly  neglected  throughout  the  country. 
Teachers  had  no  other  preparation  for  their  work  than  their 
natural  aptitude  for  the  art,  their  knowledge  of  the  subjects 
which  they  taught,  and  such  practical  lessons  as  they  learned 
in  their  school  rooms.  As  respects  their  academic  prepa- 
ration, they  presented,  as  a  class,  a  very  motley  appearance, 
as  a  cursory  view  of  the  schools  of  the  country  will  abun- 
dantly show. 

New  England  was  much  better  supplied  with  schools  of 
all  kinds  than  any  other  section  of  the  country.  Here  were 
found  four  of  the  nine  colleges  that  existed  at  the  time  of 
the  revolutionary  war;  here  permanent  grammar  schools 
and  academies  existed  in  larger  numbers  than  elsewhere ; 
and  here  were  the  only  systems  of  public  schools  that  had 
been  founded.  The  teacher  was  always  highly  respected  by 
the  Puritans;  but  some  of  the  accounts  of   teachers  and 


4  THE    TRAINING    OF    TEACHERS  [362 

schools  that  have  come  down  to  us  bear  a  striking  resem- 
blance to  the  descriptions  of  the  state  of  education  existing 
in  Switzerland  and  France  in  the  youth  of  Pestalozzi.  In 
the  early  time  we  read  of  one  town,  for  example,  that 
required  its  schoolmaster  to  perform  the  following  duties  in 
addition  to  taking  charge  of  the  school :  to  act  as  court 
messenger,  to  serve  summonses,  to  conduct  certain  ceremo- 
nial services  of  the  church,  to  lead  the  Sunday  choir,  to  ring 
the  bell  for  public  worship,  to  dig  graves,  and  to  perform 
other  occasional  duties.^  Matters  improved  as  time  went 
on,  but  Horace  Mann  wrote  of  Massachusetts  as  late  as 
1837  :  "  Engaged  in  the  common  schools  of  the  state  there 
are  now,  out  of  the  city  of  Boston,  but  a  few  more  than  a 
hundred  male  teachers  who  devote  themselves  to  teaching 
as  a  regular  profession.  The  number  of  females  is  a  little, 
though  not  materially,  larger.  Very  few  even  of  these  have 
ever  had  any  special  training  for  their  vocation.  The  rest 
are  generally  young  persons,  taken  from  agricultural  or 
mechanical  employment,  which  have  no  tendency  to  qualify 
them  for  the  difficult  station ;  or  they  are  undergraduates  of 
our  colleges,  some  of  whom,  there  is  reason  to  suspect,  think 
more  of  what  they  are  to  receive  at  the  end  of  the  stipulated 
term,  than  what  they  are  to  impart  during  its  continuance."'' 
The  winter  schools  were  taught  by  men,  the  summer  schools 
by  women,  the  men  being  much  the  better  fitted  for  the 
office  of  instruction. 

In  the  middle  states  education  had  never  taken  on  a 
strong  institutional  form.  The  four  colleges  of  that  section 
—  Philadelphia,  New  Jersey,  Queen's  and  King's  —  were 
much  younger  and  weaker  than  Harvard  and  Yale ;  acade- 
mies and  grammar  schools  were  less  firmly  established  than 
east  of  the  Hudson  river,  while  common  schools  were  wholly 
of  a  voluntary  or  parochial  character.  Private  schools  and 
domestic  instruction  were  mainly  relied  on.  The  old  Dutch 
schoolmasters  of  the   Hudson  and  the  Delaware  performed 

'Boone,  R.  G.     Education  in  the  United  States,  p.  12. 
•Life  and  Works  of  Horace  Mann,  vol.  II,  p.  425. 


363]  THE    TRAINING   OF    TEACHERS  5 

quite  as  many  offices  as  ever  the  New  England  schoolmas- 
ters performed.  They  were  forereaders  and  foresingers  in 
the  churches,  comforters  of  the  sick,  and  church  clerks,  not 
to  mention  other  services,  as  well  as  pedagogues.'  Presi- 
dent Dwight,  of  Yale  college,  visiting  the  city  of  New 
York  early  in  this  century,  gives  this  account  of  the  majority 
of  the  schools  that  he  found  there :  "  An  individual,  some- 
times a  liberally  educated  student,  having  obtained  the 
proper  recommendations,  offers  himself  to  some  of  the 
inhabitants  as  a  schoolmaster.  If  he  is  approved  and  pro- 
cures a  competent  number  of  subscribers,  he  hires  a  room 
and  commences  the  business  of  instruction.  Sometimes  he 
meets  with  little,  and  sometimes  with  much  encourage- 
ment." *  And  so  it  was,  for  the  most  part,  throughout  the 
middle  states. 

At  the  south  schools  were  still  less  firmly  rooted.  Here 
was  found,  before  the  revolutionary  war,  but  a  single  col- 
lege, William  and  Mary,  and  academies  of  a  permanent 
character  were  infrequent.  In  the  later  colonial  days,  and 
perhaps  afterguards,  it  was  common  for  southern  gentlemen 
to  send  abroad  for  university  educated  men,  who  were  duly 
installed  as  teachers  in  their  families.  Thus  George  Mason, 
the  distinguished  Virginia  statesman  of  the  revolutionary 
era,  sent  to  Scotland  for  two  teachers  in  succession  for  his 
sons.3  At  an  earlier  time  it  was  still  more  common  in  the 
southern  states  for  heads  of  families  to  buy  teachers  in  the 
market  as  the  Romans  bought  them  in  the  days  of  Cicero  ; 
such  teachers  being  commonly  redemptioners,  men  who  had 
sold  their  services  for  a  term  of  years  to  a  merchant  or  ship- 
master in  payment  for  their  transportation  to  America,  but 
sometimes,  also,  convicts  who  had  been  expatriated.  It  was 
common,  too,  at  the  south,  and  in  a  less  degree  in  the  mid- 
dle states,  for  leading  families  to  send  their  sons  abroad  to 

*  History  of  the  school  of  the  collegiate  reformed  Dutch  church  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  etc.     H.  W.  Dunshee,  New  York,  18S3,  passim. 

'  Travels  in  New  England  and  New  York,  4  vols.  London,  1823,  ▼ol.  IV,  p.  443. 

*The  Life  of  George  Mason,  etc.  Kate  Mason  Rowland,  N.  Y.  London,  1892, 
Tol.  I,  pp.  96,  97. 


6  THE    TRAINING    OF    TEACHERS  [364 

be  educated.  Thus  the  father  and  two  elder  brothers  of 
Washington  were  sent  to  Appleby  school  in  England. 
Foreign  trained  teachers  were  much  more  common  at  the 
south  than  at  the  north.  Andrew  Bell,  author  of  the  Mad- 
ras system  of  education,  taught  in  Virginia  through  the 
period  of  the  revolutionary  war.'  The  Scotch-Irish  race, 
both  in  and  out  of  the  country,  furnished  a  large  number  of 
teachers,  some  of  whom  were  as  vagrant  in  their  habits  as 
the  wandering  scholars  of  the  sixteenth  century.  "  The 
whole  southern  country,"  writes  one  who  has  carefully  studied 
the  subject,  "was  opened  to  the  wandering  teachers,  all  the 
way  from  an  educational  tramp  and  a  drunken  importation 
from  a  British  university,  to  now  and  then,  probably,  a  com- 
petent teacher."  Such  men  as  these  were  met  with  every- 
where, but  more  commonly  at  the  south  and  west. 

Following  the  revolution,  as  the  different  sections  of  the 
union  became  more  closely  knit  together,  New  England, 
which  had  a  surplus  of  teachers,  such  as  they  were,  began  to 
send  her  overplus  beyond  her  borders.  Other  states  at  the 
north  followed  her  example.  Probably  the  practice  ante- 
dated the  war ;  but  now  the  "  Yankee  "  schoolmaster  became 
better  known  in  the  south  and  west  than  ever  the  Scotch 
professor  had  been  known  in  continental  countries  in  the 
middle  ages.  It  may  be  worth  recalling  that  it  was  one 
of  these  New  England  schoolmasters,  Eli  Whitney,  who 
invented  the  cotton  gin,  which  gave  such  an  impulse  to 
cotton  production  and  cotton  manufacture.  William  EUery 
Channing  taught  as  a  private  instructor  in  Richmond,  Vir- 
ginia, in  1798-1800;  William  H.  Seward  taught  part  of  the 
year  1819  in  Georgia  ;  Salmon  P.  Chase  carried  on  his  select 
classical  seminary  in  Washington  in  1827-28,  while  studying 
law  in  the  office  of  William  Wirt ;  and  at  a  later  day  James 
G.  Blaine  taught  for  a  time  in  the  Western  Military  institute 
at  the  Blue  Lick  Springs,  Kentucky.  Women,  as  well  as 
men,  went  to  the  south  to  teach.     Probably  most  of  these 

'  The  Life  of  Rev.  Andrew  Bell,  etc.     By  Robert  Southey,  London,  1844,  vol. 
I,  chap.  II. 


365]  THE   TRAINING   OF   TEACHERS  ^ 

teachers  returned  north  again  after  a  period  of  service ;  but 
some  remained  and  became  identified  with  the  country. 
Thus  the  gentleman  quoted  from  above  testifies:  "In  my 
wanderings  through  the  older  Atlantic  states,  I  have  come 
upon  a  good  many  old  men  and  women  who  left  New 
England  as  teachers  and  married  and  settled  among  the 
people."'  It  must  be  added  that  at  the  south,  and  in  the 
middle  states  in  less  degree,  men  of  superior  education 
looked  with  little  favor  upon  teaching  as  a  vocation,  being 
more  interested  in  the  professions  or  in  public  life. 

The  general  situation  in  the  first  quarter  of  the  present 
century  may  be  summed  up  as  follows  :  The  teachers  of  the 
best  academies,  grammar  schools,  and  select  schools  were 
educated  men,  a  large  majority  of  them  trained  in  the  col- 
leges of  the  country,  but  some  in  the  universities  of  the  old 
world,  particularly  of  England  and  of  Scotland.  Not  unfre- 
quently  these  teachers  were  ministers  of  religion  actually  in 
charge  of  parishes  or  churches.  In  fact,  it  had  always  been 
common  for  ministers  to  teach,  if  not  formal  schools,  then 
private  pupils  in  their  own  studies.  Next  to  this  group  the 
best  educated  teachers,  as  a  class,  were  college  students  and 
young  men  preparing  for  professional  life  —  the  law,  medicine, 
or  the  ministry  —  who  had  resorted  to  teaching  for  the  time  as 
a  means  of  supplying  themselves  with  needed  funds.  John 
Adams,  after  graduating  from  Harvard  college  in  1755, 
taught  for  a  time  in  the  grammar  school  at  Worcester,  Mas- 
sachusetts. Some  of  these  persons,  by  reason  of  aptitude, 
enthusiasm,  and  scholarly  attainments,  were  excellent  teach- 
ers. The  third  group  to  be  mentioned  was  composed  of 
persons  who  had  studied  in  the  academies  and  grammar  and 
select  schools  but  had  not  attended  institutions  of  a  higher 
grade.  These  were  found  not  only  in  the  elementary  schools 
but  in  the  grammar  schools  and  academies  themselves. 
Schools  of  this  grade,  it  may  be  explained,  performed  a 
double  function ;  they  sent  young  men  to  the  colleges,  but 
a  much  larger  number  directly  into  practical  life.     Much  of 

'  Dr.  A.  D.  Mayo,  in  private  letter. 


8  THE    TRAINING    OF    TEACHERS  [366 

the  instruction  that  they  furnished,  especially  the  inferior 
schools,  was  of  a  strictly  elementary  character.  The  fourth 
group,  found  in  the  common  schools,  were  fitted,  so  far  as 
they  were  fitted  at  all,  some  in  the  grammar  school  and 
academies,  but  many  more  in  just  such  schools  as  they  taught 
themselves.  Sometimes,  however,  a  college  student,  or  even 
graduate,  was  found  in  one  of  the  common  schools. 

In  America,  as  in  Europe,  the  education  of  women  had 
been  greatly  neglected.  In  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth 
century  fewer  than  forty  per  cent  of  the  women  of  New 
England  who  signed  legal  papers  wrote  their  names ;  the 
others  made  their  mark.'  Mrs.  John  Adams,  writing  of  the 
middle  of  the  century,  said  female  education  in  the  best 
families  went  no  further  than  writing  and  arithmetic ;  in 
some  few  and  rare  instances  music  and  dancing.  It  was 
fashionable,  she  said  also,  to  ridicule  female  learning.^ 
Girls  were  not  admitted  to  the  public  schools  of  Boston  until 
1769.  When  the  first  quarter  of  this  century  was  well 
turned  some  change  for  the  better  was  apparent ;  but  even 
then,  there  were  slight  manifestations  of  that  splendid  out- 
burst of  interest  in  women's  education  which  was  carried  in 
the  bosom  of  the  great  democratic  movement.  All  this  was 
the  more  unfortunate  because  a  large  proportion  of  the  teach- 
ers, at  least  in  the  northern  states,  were  women,  who  were, 
generally  speaking,  grossly  incompetent  and  miserably  paid. 

Still  it  must  not  be  supposed  that,  down  to  the  educational 
revival,  no  attention  was  given  to  the  qualification  and 
preparation  of  teachers.  That  were  a  great  mistake ;  the 
maintenance  of  colleges  and  academies  was  often  advocated 
on  the  ground  that  they  would  furnish  teachers  for  the  com- 
mon schools.  Dr.  Franklin,  for  example,  in  urging  the 
claims  of  the  Academy  of  Philadelphia,  now  the  University 
of  Pennsylvania,  remarked  upon  the  great  need  of  school- 

'  The  Evolution  of  the  Massachusetts  public  school  system,  G.  H.  Martin,  New 
York,  1894,  p.  75, 

•The  Familiar  letters  of  John  Adams  and  his  wife  Abigail  Adams  during  the 
revolution,  with  a  memoir  of  Mrs.  Adams  by  Charles  Francis  Adams.  New 
York,  1876,  pp.  xxi,  339. 


367]  THE   TRAINING   OF    TEACHERS  9 

masters,  and  said  the  academy  would  be  able  to  furnish 
teachers  of  good  morals  well  prepared  to  teach  children 
reading,  writing,  arithmetic,  and  the  grammar  of  their 
mother  tongue/  But  nothing  was  said  or  done,  so  far  as 
known,  relative  to  instructing  prospective  teachers  in  the 
science  and  the  art  of  teaching. 

It  is  clear,  therefore,  that,  at  the  opening  of  this  century, 
there  was  urgent  need  of  a  general  educational  revival 
throughout  the  country,  and  particularly  of  a  revival,  or  cre- 
ation, of  interest  in  the  training  of  teachers.  Both  of  these 
needs  were  the  more  pressing  because  population  was  largely 
increasing,  owing  partly  to  its  growing  density  in  the  old 
states,  but  more  to  its  rapid  extension  into  the  new  regions 
of  the  west.  There  was,  in  fact,  no  other  part  of  the  union 
where  the  schoolmaster  so  much  needed  to  be  abroad  as  on 
the  western  frontiers. 

In  fact,  the  two  elements  that  have  just  been  mentioned 
could  not  be  separated.  In  America,  as  in  Europe,  the 
demand  for  better  teachers  was  a  marked  feature  of  the 
great  democratic  movement  towards  popular  education  ;  per- 
haps it  may  be  called  the  feature  of  this  movement.  Early 
in  this  century  calls  began  to  be  heard  in  various  parts  of 
the  United  States,  at  first  in  slow  and  then  in  rapid  suc- 
cession. These  calls  were  not  made  according  to  a  pro- 
gram ;  there  was  no  central  propaganda ;  in  fact,  there 
was  little  direct  connection  between  the  early  discussions 
and  efforts  to  do  something  in  different  parts  of  the  country. 
On  the  other  hand,  these  discussions  and  efforts  sprang 
from  the  forces  or  causes  that  produced  the  great  educa- 
tional uprising  in  this  country  and  in  other  countries.  Men 
will  differ  as  to  the  relative  power  of  these  forces,  or  perhaps 
even  as  to  the  number ;  but  the  best  judges,  it  is  believed, 
will  hardly  dispute  the  assertion  that,  in  America  at  least, 
the  democratic  spirit  was  the  most  far  reaching  and  effica- 
cious of  such  causes.     "  Schools  must  be  provided  for  the 

^  History  of  education  in  Pennsylvania,  etc.     J.  P.  Wickersham,  Lancaster,  Pa., 
1886,  p.  606. 


lO  THE    TRAINING    OF    TEACHERS  [368 

people  ",  "  the  property  of  the  state  must  educate  the  youth 
of  the  state ",  "  the  schools  must  have  better  teachers ", 
became  national  watchwords/ 


I    NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

The  highly  mechanical  method  of  teaching  that  bears  the 
names  of  Bell  and  Lancaster,  called  also  mutual  and  moni- 
torial instruction,  demanded  much  skill  in  its  conductors. 
Among  other  places,  this  method  took  root  in  the  city  of 
Philadelphia,  and  there,  in  1818,  it  called  into  existence  the 
model  school,  which  was,  no  doubt,  the  first  school  estab- 
lished in  the  country  for  the  training  of  teachers ;  it  did  not, 
however,  outlive  the  movement  of  which  it  was  a  part. 

The  first  permanent  normal  schools  were  the  three  founded 
at  Lexington,  Barrie,  and  Bridgewater,  Massachusetts,  in 
1839-40.  They  were  an  outgrowth  of  the  interest  in  popu- 
lar education  and  especially  of  interest  in  schools  for  pre- 
paring common  school  teachers,  which  had  been  increasing 
for  years,  and  particularly  after  German  influence  began  to 
be  felt  upon  American  education,  that  is,  about  1820.  These 
primitive  schools  were  in  all  respects  on  a  small  scale  — 
studies,  teachers  and  pupils.  Candidates  to  be  admitted 
were  required  to  be,  if  males,  seventeen  years  old,  if  females, 
sixteen  years.  They  were  required  to  declare  an  intention 
to  become  school  teachers;  they  also  took  an  entrance 
examination,  and  submitted  evidence  of  intellectual  capacity 
and  moral  character.  The  minimum  term  of  study  was 
fixed  at  one  year,  and  at  its  expiration  the  pupil,  if  deserv- 
ing, was  promised  a  certificate  of  qualification.  The  official 
course  of  study,  prepared  by  the  state  board  of  education, 
said  the  studies  first  to  be  attended  to  should  be  those  which 
the  law  required  to   be  taught  in  the  district  schools,  viz.: 

'The  writer  has  given  a  much  fuller  account  of  the  state  of  schools  in  the 
United  States  previous  to  1837  in  his  work  entitled  "  Horace  Mann  and  the  com- 
mon school  revival  in  the  United  States."  New  York,  1898,  chaps.  I,  II.  See 
also  chapters  on  various  aspects  of  our  educational  history  by  Dr.  A.  D.  Mayo,  in 
the  reports  of  the  commissioner  of  education,  1895,  1896,  1897.  Also  chap.  XXIX 
of  the  last  named  report. 


369]  THE   TRAINING   OF    TEACHERS  II 

orthography,  reading,  writing,  English  grammar,  geography 
and  arithmetic.  When  these  were  thoroughly  mastered, 
those  of  a  higher  order  might  be  progressively  taken.  Per- 
sons wishing  to  remain  at  the  school  more  than  one  year,  in 
order  to  increase  their  qualifications  for  teaching  a  public 
school,  might  do  so,  having  first  obtained  the  consent  of 
the  principal ;  and  to  meet  their  needs,  a  further  course  of 
study  was  marked  out.  The  whole  course,  properly  arranged, 
was  as  follows : 

(i)  Orthography,  reading,  grammar,  composition  and 
rhetoric,  logic ;  (2)  writing,  drawing ;  (3)  arithmetic,  men- 
tal and  written,  algebra,  geometry,  bookkeeping,  navigation, 
surveying ;  (4)  geography,  ancient  and  modern,  with  chro- 
nology, statistics,  and  general  history ;  (5)  physiology ;  (6) 
mental  philosophy ;  (7)  music ;  (8)  constitution  and  history 
of  Massachusetts  and  of  the  United  States ;  (9)  natural 
philosophy  and  astronomy ;  (10)  natural  history;  (11)  the 
principles  of  piety  and  morality  common  to  all  sects  of 
Christians;  (12)  the  science  and  art  of  teaching,  with  refer- 
ence to  all  the  above  named  studies.  A  portion  of  the 
Scriptures  should  be  read  daily  in  every  normal  school. 

A  selection  from  the  above  studies  should  be  made  by 
those  who  were  to  remain  at  the  school  but  one  year,  accord- 
ing to  the  particular  kind  of  school  it  might  be  their  inten- 
tion to  teach.  To  each  normal  school  an  experimental  or 
model  school  was  attached,  where  the  pupils  could  reduce  to 
practice  the  knowledge  that  they  acquired  of  the  science  and 
art  of  teaching.  Every  school  was  put  in  the  immediate 
charge  of  a  principal  aided  by  needed  assistants.' 

Such  was  the  program.  Perhaps  it  is  to-day  most  interest- 
ing when  viewed  as  a  gauge  of  the  time,  or  as  a  base  line 
from  which  to  measure  progress. 

These  primitive  schools  were  the  joint  product  of  private 
and  public  liberality ;  both  citizens  and  the  legislature 
shared  in  founding  them ;  moreover,  they  were   an  experi- 

•  The  Common  school  journal,  edited  by  Horace  Mann,  secretary  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts board  of  education,  vol.  I,  pp.  32-38. 


12  THE    TRAINING    OF    TEACHERS  [370 

ment,  the  legislature  refusing  at  first  to  commit  itself  to 
their  maintenance  beyond  the  period  of  three  years  ;  but 
they  so  commended  themselves  to  the  public  that  they  were 
soon  regularly  incorporated  into  the  state  system  of  public 
instruction.  Furthermore,  not  only  have  these  schools 
greatly  grown,  in  number  of  pupils  and  teachers,  in  appli- 
ances and  breadth  of  studies,  and  in  influence,  but  others 
have  been  added  to  the  list  until  Massachusetts  has  now 
nine  state  normal  schools. 

The  northern  and  western  states  have  generally  adopted 
the  normal  school  idea.  In  the  west  they  spring  out  of  the 
soil  and  grow  up  side  by  side  with  the  other  institutions  of 
civil  society.  Nor  is  this  all.  At  the  close  of  the  civil  war 
there  was  not  a  single  normal  school  in  the  southern  states ; 
since  that  time,  however,  they  have  been  generally  intro- 
duced as  an  indispensable  feature  of  the  common  school 
system.  The  places  and  times  at  which  some  of  the  leading 
schools  were  established  will  illustrate  the  progress  of  the 
movement. 

Albany,  N.  Y.,  1844.  Framington,  Maine,  1864. 

New  Britain,  Connecticut,  1850.     Winona,  Minnesota,  1864. 
Ypsilanti,  Michigan,  1852.  Chicago     (Cook     county).     111., 

Boston,  Massachusetts,  1852.  1867. 

Normal,  Illinois,  1857.  Plattville,  Wisconsin,  1866. 

Millersville,  Pennsylvania,  1859.     Nashville,  Tennessee,  1875. 
Oswego,  New  York,  i860.  Cedar  Fall§,  Iowa,  1876. 

Emporia,  Kansas,  1864.  Terre  Haute,  Indiana,  1870. 

New  York  now  has  twelve  public  normal  schools,  Penn- 
sylvania thirteen,  Massachusetts  nine.  West  Virginia,  North 
Carolina,  Missouri,  and  Wisconsin  seven  each.  No  other 
state  has  more  than  six,  and  a  few  have  none.  Ohio,  how- 
ever, is  the  only  great  state  that  has  no  state  normal  school. 

Perhaps  no  school  in  this  list  has  exerted  a  greater  influ- 
ence than  the  Oswego  school.  This  influence  has  been 
largely  due  to  the  practical  application  that  was  here  made 
of  Pestalozzian  ideas  and  methods,  and  to  the  great  ability 
and  elevation  of  character  of  its  founder.  Dr.  E.  A.  Sheldon. 


37^^  THE    TRAINING   OF    TEACHERS 


13 


This  development  has  been  due  partly  to  the  quickening 
example  of  Massachusetts,  but  far  more  to  the  general  preva- 
lence of  the  same  causes  that  acted  in  that  state.  A  high 
educational  authority  has  said  that  "  all  normal  school  work 
in  the  country  follows  substantially  one  tradition,  and  this 
*  *  *  traces  back  to  the  course  laid  down  at  Lexington 
in  1839."'  There  is  truth  in  this  view,  but  the  operation  of 
the  same  general  causes  was,  no  doubt,  a  more  powerful 
factor  than  direct  imitation. 

We  come  now  to  the  question,  What  and  how  much  are 
the  students  in  the  normal  schools  doing  ?  Only  a  general 
answer  can  be  given. 

Candidates  for  admission  to  the  Massachusetts  schools 
must  be  graduates  of  approved  high  schools,  or  must  have 
received  an  equivalent  education.  The  general  two  years' 
course  designed  for  intending  teachers  below  the  high  school 
comprises,  (i)  psychology,  history  of  education,  principles 
of  education,  methods  of  instruction  and  discipline,  school 
organization,  and  the  laws  of  Massachusetts ;  (2)  methods 
of  teaching  English,  mathematics,  science,  vocal  music, 
physical  culture,  and  manual  training;  (3)  observation  in 
the  model  school  and  in  other  public  schools.  The  Bridge- 
water  school  has  a  regular  four  years'  course  embracing,  in 
addition  to  the  foregoing  studies,  work  of  a  more  academic 
character,  as  instruction  in  Latin  and  French,  Greek  and 
German,  English  literature,  history,  etc.  This  course  looks 
to  the  preparation  of  grammar  school  principals  and  a  grade 
of  high  school  teachers.  Bridgewater  also  offers  a  three 
years'  course,  a  cross  between  the  other  two,  while  provision 
is  also  made  for  advanced  instruction  for  college  graduates 
and  other  approved  candidates  in  all  the  schools.  Diplomas 
are  given  to  graduates  from  all  courses.^ 

'Dr.  W.  T.  Harris,  oration  delivered  at  Framingham,  Mass.,  1888.  See  Pro- 
ceedings of  the  semi-centennial  celebration  of  the  founding  of  state  normal 
schools  in  this  country. 

'See  Sixty-second  annual  report  of  the  board  of  education,  Massachusetts, 
1897-98,  passim  j'  also  reports  of  the  various  normal  schools,  particularly  that  of 
the  school  at  Bridgewater  for  1898-99. 


14  THE    TRAINING    OF    TEACHERS  [372 

The  Other  state  normal  schools,  while  conforming  in  the 
main  to  the  Massachusetts  type,  present  numerous  variations. 
The  common  standard  for  admission  is  not  as  high  by  at 
least  two  years  of  high  school  study.  Often,  however,  there 
will  be  found  a  greater  variety  of  instruction  than  the  Mass- 
achusetts schools  furnish,  and  partly  for  the  very  reason 
that  the  standard  is  not  as  high.  On  the  whole,  for  some 
years  past  there  has  been  a  marked  tendency  to  raise  the 
standard  of  admission  and  to  strengthen  and  diversify  courses 
of  study.  Advanced  courses  for  normal  school  graduates 
and  other  candidates  having  an  equivalent  education  are 
well  nigh  universal.  Furthermore,  the  best  schools  in  their 
best  courses  give  an  amount  of  instruction  that  will  carry 
the  student  nearly,  if  not  quite,  to  the  middle  of  a  good 
college  course.  Naturally,  therefore,  many  students  pass 
from  the  normal  schools  to  the  colleges  and  universities. 
Special  courses  for  college  graduates  are  often  met  with, 
designed  to  give,  in  a  single  year,  a  professional  preparation 
for  teaching. 

Some  schools  have  assumed  the  higher  name  of  college, 
in  connection  with  the  assumption  of  some  higher  function. 
Thus,  the  Michigan  state  normal  college  gives  the  degree 
of  bachelor  of  pedagogics  to  students  who  complete  satis- 
factorily its  four  years'  course  of  study.  It  also  confers  the 
corresponding  master's  degree  upon  those  bachelors  who 
comply  with  some  further  conditions,  none  of  which,  how- 
ever, involve  the  element  of  residence. 

The  Normal  college  of  the  city  of  New  York,  which  has 
as  its  main  function  the  training  of  teachers  for  the  schools 
of  that  city,  offers  two  main  courses  of  instruction,  the  nor- 
mal course  of  four  years  and  the  academic  course  of  five 
years.  A  special  diploma  is  granted  to  those  students  who 
complete  the  normal  course ;  moreover,  such  graduates  may 
obtain  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  arts  or  bachelor  of  science, 
if  they  successfully  pursue  a  two  years'  graduate  course  in 
literature  or  science.  The  academic  course,  which  con- 
tains Greek,  is  crowned  with  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  arts, 


373]  THE   TRAINING   OF   TEACHERS  1 5 

and  graduates  in  this  course  may  receive  the  degree  of  mas- 
ter of  arts  provided  they  afterwards  pursue  graduate  studies 
for  at  least  two  years.  The  degree  of  bachelor  of  pedagogy 
or  doctor  of  pedagogy  may  be  conferred  on  any  graduate  in 
either  of  these  courses  who  has  made  a  study  of  the  science 
and  the  art  of  teaching  for  a  period  of  at  least  two  years 
after  graduation.  Graduation  from  an  approved  high 
school,  or  an  equivalent  amount  of  education,  is  the  educa- 
tional qualification  for  admission. 

One  of  the  prominent  institutions  of  this  class  is  the 
New  York  state  normal  college  at  Albany.  This  institution 
is  an  outgrowth  of  the  first  New  York  normal  school,  founded 
in  1844,  the  reorganization  taking  place  in  1890.  It  is  a  pro- 
fessional school  exclusively,  not  duplicating  the  instruction 
given  in  literary  colleges.  The  purely  professional  work  in 
both  courses,  the  English  and  classical,  is  the  same,  and 
graduates  from  both  receive  life  certificates  to  teach  in  the 
public  schools  of  the  state ;  graduates  in  the  higher  course 
also  receive  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  pedagogy.  Gradu- 
ates from  fifty  colleges  and  universities  have  sought  instruc- 
tion in  the  college. 

The  two  oldest  public  normal  schools  of  Illinois  are  called 
normal  universities.  The  name,  however,  is  purely  historical, 
and  has  no  educational  significance  whatever. 

The  cities  have  followed  the  states  in  founding  normal 
schools,  often  called,  however,  training  schools.  The  prin- 
cipal reason  for  maintaining  such  schools  is  the  urgent  need 
for  trained  teachers  for  the  local  system  of  schools,  which  can- 
not be  otherwise  supplied.  Other  reasons,  as  the  desire  on 
the  part  of  local  authorities  to  round  out  the  system  with  a 
professional  school,  and  the  wish  of  parents  to  have  their 
daughters  prepared  for  teaching,  also  exert  some  influence. 
Many  of  the  public  normal  schools  fall  into  this  class. 
Nearly  all  the  large  cities,  and  many  of  the  small  ones,  have 
their  own  independent  schools.  Greater  New  York  has  sev- 
eral of  them.  These  schools  commonly  make  graduation 
from  the  local  high  school,  or  an  equivalent  education,  a 


1 6  THE    TRAINING   OF    TEACHERS  [374 

qualification  for  admission,  and  they  graduate  their  students 
after  a  one  year's  or  a  two  years'  course.  In  1895  the  legis- 
lature of  New  York  passed  an  act  which  authorizes  the 
cities  of  the  state  and  villages  employing  superintendents 
of  schools,  to  establish  and  maintain  one  or  more  schools 
or  classes  for  the  professional  instruction  and  training  of 
teachers  in  the  principles  of  education  and  in  the  method 
of  instruction,  for  not  less  than  thirty-eight  weeks  in  each 
school  year.  Such  schools  receive  assistance  from  the 
state  funds ;  the  requirements  for  admission  and  the  course 
of  study  are  fixed  by  the  state  superintendent  of  public 
instruction,  under  whose  general  direction  such  schools  are 
carried  on ;  graduation  from  an  approved  high  school  or 
academy  has  been  made  the  test  of  admission.  The  results 
have  been  so  encouraging  that  the  superintendent  pronounces 
the  law  the  most  important  statute  relating  to  its  subject 
which  has  been  enacted  in  any  state  in  the  union.' 

With  the  single  exception  of  the  Philadelphia  model 
school,  the  first  schools  of  the  country  to  train  teachers  were 
private  schools,  created  and  carried  on  by  their  owners  and 
managers,  as  means  of  livelihood  and  instruments  of  doing 
good.  Nor  has  the  establishment  of  public  schools  driven 
the  private  ones  out  of  the  field.  On  the  contrary,  the 
private  schools  have  greatly  increased  in  number,  and  have 
assumed  the  name  normal.  Some  of  them  are  the  property 
of  corporations,  some  of  private  owners.  A  few  rival  the 
public  schools  in  number  of  students  and  teachers  and  in 
equipment.  They  are  more  numerous,  but  have  not  so  large 
an  aggregate  attendance,  as  the  accompanying  statistics  will 
show. 

The  Peabody  Normal  college,  Nashville,  Tennessee,  has  a 
unique  history  among  American  schools  for  the  training  of 
teachers.  It  takes  its  name  from  the  distinguished  philan- 
thropist George  Peabody,  a  name  well  known  in  both  worlds, 
and  derives  the  larger  part  of  its  support  from  the  education 
fund  that  Mr.  Peabody  created  in  1867-69,  committing  it  to 

'  Report  of  the  superintendent  of  public  instruction,  New  York,  1898,  vol.  I,  xxv. 


375]  THE    TRAINING    OF    TEACHERS  1/ 

a  board  of  trust,  with  instructions  to  apply  the  income,  at 
their  discretion,  for  the  promotion  and  encouragement  of 
intellectual,  moral,  or  industrial  education  among  the  young 
of  the  more  destitute  portions  of  the  southern  and  south- 
western states  of  the  American  union.  This  board  soon 
made  choice  of  the  preparation  of  teachers  as  the  best  means 
of  carrying  out  the  founder's  wishes.  In  connection  with 
the  trustees  of  the  university  of  Nashville,  an  old  institution 
of  learning  that  had  fallen  into  decay,  the  board  founded,  in 
1875,  the-normal  school,  which  has  since  expanded  into  the 
college.  The  state  of  Tennessee  has  since  come  to  the 
assistance  of  the  two  boards  of  trustees.  The  general  agent 
of  the  Peabody  fund  says  of  it :  "  Giving  to  all  the  southern 
states  the  benefit  of  improved  normal  instruction  widened 
the  college  from  a  local  state  institution  into  a  college  for 
the  south."  And  again  :  "In  establishing  the  college  there 
there  was  no  intent  to  favor  Tennessee  above  other  southern 
states.  The  training  of  teachers  for  all  the  southern  states 
was  the  object.  As  the  munificence  of  Mr.  Peabody  was 
the  stimulus  and  the  means  for  establishing  systems  of  public 
schools  in  the  states,  so  the  normal  college  has  pointed  the 
way  and  aroused  the  effort  for  the  organizing  of  more  local 
but  indispensable  normal  schools." '  The  college  is  the 
literary  department  of  the  university  of  Nashville,  and  con- 
fers, in  addition  to  the  degree  of  licentiate  of  instruction,  the 
usual  degrees  conferred  by  the  literary  and  scientific  colleges. 
The  Peabody  trustees,  besides  their  other  contributions  to 
the  support  of  the  college,  provide  a  liberal  system  of 
scholarships  for  the  assistance  of  students  who  wish  to  pre- 
pare themselves  for  teaching. 

In  the  normal  schools  of  the  country  women  hold  the  same 
relative  preponderance  as  students  that  they  hold  in  the  com- 
mon schools  as  teachers,  as  the  statistics  clearly  show.'     It 

'  A  Brief  sketch  of  George  Peabody  and  a  history  of  the  Peabody  education 
fund  through  thirty  years,  by  J.  L.  M.  Curry,  Cambridge,  1898. 

*  In  1896-97  the  numbers  of  male  and  female  teachers  in  the  common  schools  of 
the  country,  as  reported  by  the  bureau  of  education,  were  as  follows:  Males, 
131,381 ;  females,  271,949. 


1 8  THE    TRAINING    OF    TEACHERS  [376 

is  Interesting  to  observe,  however,  that  they  are  far  more 
numerous,  relatively  as  well  as  absolutely,  in  the  public  nor- 
mal schools  than  in  the  private  ones,  which  is  owing,  for  the 
most  part  probably,  to  the  fact  that  tuition  is  free  in  the  one 
case  and  not  in  the  other. 

Kindergarten  teachers  are  frequently  trained  for  their 
work  in  normal  schools,  and  occasionally  manual  training 
teachers  as  well.  Mention  may  be  made  in  particular  of  the 
Chicago  Kindergarten  college,  which  aims  to  extend  help  to 
kindergartners,  primary  teachers,  mothers,  or  other  persons 
intrusted  with  the  education  of  little  children.  The  work 
is  distributed  among  seven  different  departments,  of  which 
the  teachers'  department  stands  first,  followed  immediately 
by  the  mothers'  department.  The  teachers'  department  pro- 
vides both  central  and  branch  classes.  The  regular  teachers' 
course  is  three  years,  the  educational  qualification  for  admis- 
sion to  it  being  a  high  school  education  or  its  equivalent. 

Numerous  and  well  attended  as  normal  schools  have 
become,  they  still  come  very  far  short  of  supplying  the  com- 
mon schools  with  a  sufficient  number  of  professionally 
trained  teachers.  In  this  connection  it  must  be  considered 
that  a  great  army  of  teachers  is  required  to  carry  on  the 
common  schools  of  the  country,  and  that  a  great  majority  of 
this  army  serve  for  short  periods.  In  1896-97  the  total 
number  was  403,333,  and  it  increases  by  an  increment  of 
many  thousand  every  year.  Assuming  that  ten  per  cent 
pass  out  of  the  service  every  year,  which  is  a  very  moderate 
estimate,  we  see  that  more  than  40,000  recruits  are  needed 
annually  to  keep  the  ranks  full,  to  say  nothing  of  meeting 
the  growth  of  the  country.  But  this  number  is  more  than 
three  times  the  number  of  normal  graduates  in  1897-98,  and 
more  than  one-half  the  total  number  of  students  in  all  the 
training  schools  and  classes  in  the  country.  No  state 
makes  a  better  showing  than  Massachusetts  ;  but  in  1897-98 
only  38.5  per  cent  of  her  teachers  in  public  schools  had 
received  normal  instruction,  and  only  33.5  per  cent  were 
normal  graduates.     Of   those  who  had  not  received   such 


377] 


THE    TRAINING   OF    TEACHERS 


19 


instruction,  the  secretary  of  the  state  board  of  education 
says  a  few  have  probably  been  appointed  without  reference 
to  their  fitness  for  their  work ;  some  have  had  a  little  pre- 
liminary training  in  schools  for  the  purpose  ;  some  began  to 
teach  before  normal  preparation  had  attracted  the  attention 
of  school  committees  that  it  has  done  in  recent  years,  while 
some  are  college  graduates.'  Unfortunately,  we  do  not 
possess  the  statistics  that  would  enable  us  to  make  a  similar 
showing  for  the  whole  country.' 

STATISTICS    OF    NORMAL    SCHOOLS    IN    THE    UNITED   STATES    FOR 

1897-98 » 


Number  of  normal  schools 

Teachers  instructing  normal  students 

Students  in  teachers'  training  courses 

Male  students 

Female  students 

Number  normal  graduates 

Male  graduates 

Female  graduates 

Volumes  in  libraries 

Value  of  buildings,  grounds,  apparatus.... 
Value  of  benefactions  received  in  1897-98. 

Total  money  value  of  endowment 

Appropriated  by  states,  counties  and  cities 
for  buildings  and  improvements,  1897-98. 

Appropriated  by  same  for  support   

Received  from  tuition  and  other  fees 

Received  from  productive  funds 

Received  from  other  sources  and  unclassi- 
fied  

Total  income  for  1897-98 


Public  normal 
schools 


167 

1,863 

46,245 

12,578 

33,667 

8,188 

1.543 

6,645 

566,684 

^19,980,222 

33J,i85 

1,472,865 

417,866 

2,566,132 

514,562 

57,648 

307,409 
3,445,751 


Private  normal 
schools 


173 

1,008 

21,293 

10,597 

10,696 

3,067 

1,689 

1,378 

194,460 

^5,047,507 

240,203 

2,311.594 


19,696 

648,459 

38,759 

191,995 
898,909 


Total 


345 

2,871 

67.538 

23.175 

44.363 

11.255 

3.232 

8,023 

761,144 

$25,027,729 

576,388 

3,784,459 

417,866 

2,585,828 

1,163,021 

96,407 

499.404 
4,344,660 


'Sixty-second  annual  report  of  the  board  of  education,  Massachusetts,  1897-98, 
p.  148. 

'President  J.  G.  Schurman,  of  Cornell  university,  has  calculated  from  data  fur- 
nished by  the  report  of  the  commissioner  of  education  that  in  1891-92  the  total 
increase  of  teachers  in  the  schools  was  less  than  two  per  cent,  but  that  nearly 
seventeen  per  cent  of  the  whole  number  of  teachers  were  inexperienced  beginners. 
Assuming  that  these  per  cents  are  typical,  he  infers  that  the  average  length  of  the 
professional  career  of  the  American  teacher  is  between  seven  and  eight  years. 
From  data  furnished  by  the  same  authority,  he  calculates  that  only  fifteen  per 
cent  of  the  teachers  then  in  the  schools  had  passed  through  a  normal  school. — 
The  Forum,  Vol.  XXI,  pp.  174,  179. 

'This  table  is  furnished  by  the  commissioner  of  education  in  advance  of  its 
publication  in  his  report  for  the  year  1897-98. 


20  THE    TRAINING    OF    TEACHERS  [378 

Dr.  W.  T.  Harris  has  shown  that  in  the  past  seventeen 
years  the  enrollment  in  normal  schools  reported  by  states  or 
cities  has  increased  from  about  10,000  to  something  over 
40,000.  The  attendance  on  normal  schools  formed  and 
supported  by  private  enterprise  has  increased  from  about 
2,000  to  24,000,  though  the  increase  has  been  very  slow  in 
the  last  three  years.  In  1880  there  were  240  normal  stu- 
dents in  each  million  of  inhabitants ;  in  1897  there  were  976 
in  each  million.' 

The  American  normal  schools  answer,  in  general,  to  the 
normal  schools  of  France  and  Italy,  the  training  colleges  of 
England,  and  the  teachers'  seminaries  of  Switzerland  and 
Germany.  They  differ,  however,  from  all  these  schools  in 
important  particulars.  For  instance,  they  offer  at  least 
three  points  of  contrast  to  the  German  teachers'  seminaries. 

First,  in  respect  to  the  instruction  furnished.  While  the 
German  schools  confine  themselves  exclusively  to  training 
intending  teachers,  including,  to  be  sure,  much  academic 
instruction,  American  schools  generally  do  a  large  amount 
of  miscellaneous  teaching.  To  a  great  extent  they  parallel 
the  high  schools  and  to  some  extent  even  the  elementary 
schools.  In  the  second  place,  this  wide  range  of  work 
accounts  in  part  for  the  much  greater  size  of  the  American 
schools.  In  1888  only  five  of  the  115  normal  schools  of 
Prussia  had  upwards  of  a  hundred  pupils,  while  one  had 
less  than  fifty ;  but  several  of  our  state  schools  count  more 
than  a  thousand  pupils.  It  must  always  be  borne  in  mind 
that  a  large  proportion  of  these  American  pupils  are  in  no 
proper  sense  normal  pupils.  In  the  third  place,  there  is  nec- 
essarily a  great  disparity  in  the  size  of  the  respective  facul- 
ties. An  ordinary  Prussian  normal  school  requires  but  nine 
teachers,  including  the  two  in  the  practice  school,  while  our 
normal  school  staffs  often  number  fifty  or  more  persons. 

It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  we  have  not  yet  realized  the 
pure  normal  school  type  as  Germany,  for  example,  has  done. 
Nor  can  it  be  doubted  that  our  schools  as  institutions  for 

The  Educational  remew,  January,  1899,  p.  8. 


379]  THE    TRAINING   OF    TEACHERS  21 

training  teachers  have  often  suffered  greatly  from  their  over- 
grown numbers  and  large  classes.  In  Prussia,  once  more, 
the  average  number  of  pupils  per  teacher  is  not  more  than 
twelve.  It  is  accordingly  to  be  hoped  that  in  the  future  we 
may  realize  the  normal  school  idea  in  purer  form  than  in  the 
past' 

II  teachers'  training  classes 
For  the  school  year  1896-97  there  reported  to  the  Bureau 
of  Education  1,487  institutions  which  enrolled  89,974  nor- 
mal students,  or  students  pursuing  courses  designed  for  the 
professional  training  of  teachers.  Those  students  who  were 
pursuing  in  these  schools  other  courses  of  study  are  not 
included  in  this  total.  The  following  table  will  show  how 
the  students  were  distributed  : 

Schools  Number  Students 

Public  normal  schools. 164  43>i99 

Private  normal  schools 198  24,181 

Colleges  and  universities 196  6,489 

Public  high  schools 507  9,001 

Private  high  schools  and  academies 422  7,064 


Nothing  need  be  added  to  what  was  said  in  the  former 
division  of  this  monograph  concerning  the  normal  schools. 

But  the  normal  students,  so  called,  in  the  colleges  and 
universities  are  a  less  definite  body  of  persons.  The  nor- 
mal work  that  many  of  them  do  does  not  differ  in  character 
from  that  done  in  the  proper  normal  schools ;  a  smaller 
number  are  taking  the  strictly  professional  courses  leading 

'On  normal  schools  in  the  United  States,  see  the  following  authorities:  Henry 
Barnard,  Normal  schools  and  other  institutions,  agencies,  and  means  designed 
for  the  professional  instruction  of  teachers,  Hartford,  1851.  J.  P.  Gordy,  Rise 
and  growth  of  the  normal  school  idea  in  the  United  States,  Washington,  1891. 
G.  H.  Martin,  The  Evolution  of  the  Massachusetts  system  of  public  instruction. 
New  York,  1894,  Lecture  IV.  B.  A.  Hinsdale,  Horace  Mann  and  the  common 
school  period  in  the  United  States,  New  York,  1898,  chapter  VI.  S.  S.  Randall, 
History  of  the  common  school  system  of  the  State  of  New  York,  New  York,  1871, 
passim.  J.  P.  Wickersham,  History  of  education  in  Pennsylvania,  etc.,  Lancaster, 
Pa.,  1894, /ojjiw.  A.  P.  Hollis,  The  contribution  of  the  Oswego  normal  school 
to  educational  progress  in  the  United  States,  Boston,  1898.  Proceedings  of  the 
semi-centennial  celebration  of  the  state  normal  school  at  Framingham,  1889, 
particularly  the  oration  delivered  by  Dr.  W.  T.  Harris. 


22  THE  ,TRAINING    OF    TEACHERS      •  [380 

up  to  the  academic  degrees,  which  will  be  explained  in 
another  place ;  some  are  members  of  what  may  be  called 
teachers'  training  classes.  The  training  work  done  in  the 
institutions  of  this  class  is  of  very  different  degrees  of 
quality ;  some  of  it,  perhaps,  amounting  to  nothing  more 
than  attendance  upon  one  or  two  courses  of  lectures,  while 
some  of  it  is  of  strictly  university  grade.  The  statistics 
given  under  this  head  are  the  least  value  of  all,  partly  on 
account  of  the  facts  just  stated,  and  partly  because  the 
returns  are  not  complete. 

The  normal  students  in  high  schools  and  academies,  more 
than  16,000  in  number,  are,  generally  speaking,  in  training 
classes.     They  may  be  divided  into  three  groups. 

First,  many  of  these  students  in  the  private  schools,  and 
no  doubt  some  in  the  public  ones,  have  had  nothing  more 
than  a  fair  elementary  education,  if  indeed  some  of  them 
have  had  as  much  education  as  that.  They  are  looking  for- 
ward to  teaching,  most  of  them  in  the  district  schools,  and 
have  come  into  the  high  schools  and  academies  where  they 
are  found  to  enlarge  their  knowledge  of  the  branches  that 
they  expect  to  teach  and  to  receive  some  professional  instruc- 
tion in  addition. 

Secondly,  some  instruction  in  the  principles  of  education  and 
its  history  is  often  made  an  elective  study  in  the  last  year  of 
the  high  school  or  academy  course  for  those  students  who 
are  looking  forward  to  teaching.  The  elementary  schools 
look  for  many  of  their  teachers  to  the  graduates  of  the 
high  schools  and  academies,  particularly  the  public  high 
schools,  and  even  the  limited  amount  of  training  that 
they  receive  fits  them  in   a  measure  for  teaching. 

Thirdly,  classes  are  sometimes  formed  in  these  schools 
consisting  of  graduates  who  wish,  or  are  required,  to  fit  them- 
selves more  thoroughly  for  the  teacher's  work.  Such  classes 
do  not  differ  from  the  city  training  schools,  only  they  are 
less  fully  developed.  They  may  be  called  rudimentary 
training  schools. 

The  training  class  is  an  old  device  for  preparing  elementary 


381]  THE    TRAINING   OF   TEACHERS  2$ 

teachers.  Thus  New  York  early  sought  to  solve  the  teacher 
problem  for  the  common  schools  by  providing  instruction 
for  teachers  in  the  academies  of  the  state,  under  the  man- 
agement of  the  regents  of  the  university.  This  experiment 
did  not  prove  to  be  as  successful  as  had  been  hoped,  and  the 
state  supplemented  it  by  adopting  the  normal  school  policy. 
The  earlier  plan  was  never  abandoned,  however,  but  in 
1889  the  supervision  of  training  classes  was  transferred  to 
the  department  of  public  instruction.  In  the  year  1888-89 
sixty  institutions  were  authorized  to  organize  and  to  carry 
on  such  classes.  In  1895  the  legislature  passed  the  law 
referred  to  under  the  last  heading,  which  has  put  the  train- 
ing classes  on  a  new  footing  both  as  respects  management 
and  instruction. 

With  a  single  exception  the  leading  features  of  this  act 
have  already  been  given.  The  omitted  feature  is  that  no 
person  shall  be  employed  or  licensed  to  teach  in  the  ele- 
mentary schools  of  any  city  or  village  authorized  by  law  to 
employ  a  superintendent  of  schools  (that  is,  cities  and  vil- 
lages having  5,000  inhabitants  or  more)  who  has  not  taught 
successfully  at  least  three  years,  or  in  lieu  of  such  experience, 
graduated  from  a  high  school  or  other  school  of  equal  or 
higher  rank,  having  a  course  of  study  of  not  less  than 
three  years  approved  by  the  state  superintendent  of  pub- 
lic instruction,  and  subsequently  received  at  least  as  much 
professional  training  as  that  furnished  by  one  of  these  train- 
ing schools  or  classes ;  local  boards  were  left  free  to  place 
their  requirements  as  much  higher  as  they  see  fit. 

The  terms  of  admission  to  the  training  classes  are  the 
same  as  those  for  the  training  schools  organized  under  the 
same  law.  The  course  of  instruction  embraces  the  leading 
common  branches,  the  history  of  education,  school  manage- 
ment and  school  law,  and  the  art  of  questioning.  Instruc- 
tion in  the  school  studies  includes  both  subject-matter  and 
method,  together  with  some  work  in  the  observation  and 
practice  school.  In  his  report  for  1897-98,  the  state  super- 
intendent says  that  in  no  branch  of  the  work  under  his  direc- 


24  THE    TRAINING    OF    TEACHERS  [382 

tion  have  more  gratifying  results  been  secured  than  in  the 
training  classes.  For  that  year  there  were  organized  eighty- 
three  such  classes,  enrolling  1,278  students.  The  same  year 
fourteen  cities  organized  training  schools  under  the  law  with 
an  attendance  of  523.' 

Ill    teachers'  institutes 

The  teachers'  institute,  which  is  an  original  American 
institution  for  training  teachers,  has  grown  up  side  by  side 
with  the  normal  school.  The  commonly  accepted  account 
of  its  origin  is  that  it  dates  from  conventions  of  teachers 
held  in  Hartford,  Connecticut,  in  1839  ^^^  1840,  under  the 
leadership  of  Dr.  Henry  Barnard.  That  it  met  a  popular 
need  is  shown  by  its  rapid  spread.  The  first  institute  in 
New  York,  and  the  first  anywhere  to  bear  the  name,  was 
held  in  1843;  the  first  in  Massachusetts  and  Ohio,  1845; 
the  first  in  Michigan  and  Illinois,  in  1846  ;  the  first  in  Wis- 
consin, in  1848,  and  the  first  in  Iowa,  the  year  following. 
The  institute  system  soon  embraced  the  whole  northwest, 
and  it  was  established  in  the  south  along  with  common 
schools  after  the  civil  war. 

At  first  the  institute  was  a  purely  voluntary  agency. 
There  were  no  funds  for  its  support,  save  such  as  the  teach- 
ers attending  and  public-spirited  citizens  supplied.  Often 
citizens  showed  such  interest  in  the  work  that  they  freely 
opened  their  houses  to  receive  the  teachers,  not  as  boarders 
but  as  guests.  But  such  an  instrument  of  power  could  not 
long  remain  outside  the  limits  of  the  law.  Massachusetts 
appropriated  money  for  institutes  in  1846;  New  York  and 
Ohio,  in  1847;  Pennsylvania,  in  1855.  In  course  of  time 
the  institution  was  firmly  imbedded  in  state  school  laws,  and 
at  present  most  of  the  states,  if  not  all  of  them,  give  it  some 
legal  recognition  and  financial  support.  Tuition  is  free, 
unless,  indeed,  as  is  often  the  case,  the  teachers  voluntarily 

'  On  teachers'  training  classes  in  the  state  of  New  York,  see  S.  S.  Randall, 
History  of  the  common  school  system  of  the  State  of  New  York,  N.  Y.,  1871, 
passim,  and  reports  of  the  state  superintendent  of  public  instruction,  1889-90^ 
and  1897-98,  passim. 


383]  THE    TRAINING   OF    TEACHERS  2$ 

contribute  out  of  their  own  pockets  fees,  in  order  to  extend 
the  length  of  the  session  or  to  provide  better  instruction 
than  would  otherwise  be  possible. 

Institutes  are  of  numerous  types,  presenting  such  diver- 
gencies that  it  is  difficult  to  define  the  species.  There  are 
state  institutes  and  county  institutes  ;  district,  city,  and  town 
institutes.  However,  the  best  known  type  takes  its  name 
from  the  county,  which  is  the  civil  division  that,  as  a  rule, 
furnishes  the  best  unit  of  organization  and  management. 
This  type  alone  presents  many  varying  features.  Some 
county  institutes  continue  but  a  day  or  two  ;  some,  several 
weeks.  Some  are  conducted  by  state  authorities,  as  the 
superintendent  of  public  instruction  or  his  assistants ;  some 
by  local  authorities,  as  county  superintendents,  or  officers  of 
teachers'  institute  associations.  Some  are  carried  on  much 
like  a  school,  with  text  books,  set  lessons,  and  recitations, 
together  with  lectures ;  some  depend  upon  lectures  alone. 
Some  are  graded  with  a  view  to  securing  instruction  especially 
adapted  to  the  different  classes  of  teachers  ;  others  are  wholly 
unclassified  and  the  attendants  all  receive  the  same  instruc- 
tion. Sometimes  two  or  more  counties  are  thrown  together 
in  one  district,  it  may  be  for  a  year  only,  in  order  to  secure, 
through  the  concentration  of  funds  and  influence,  a  longer 
term  and  better  advantages.  State  institutes,  which  are 
infrequent,  commonly  look  more  to  the  needs  and  interests 
of  the  better  teachers  of  the  state.  City  institutes  are  con- 
ducted with  special  reference  to  local  needs. 

Dr.  Barnard  called  his  conventions  of  teachers  only  as  a 
temporary  expedient.  In  his  first  circular  announcing  his 
purpose,  he  proposed  to  give  those  teachers  an  "  opportu- 
nity to  revise  and  extend  their  knowledge  [i]  of  the  studies 
usually  pursued  in  district  schools  and  [2]  of  the  best  methods 
of  school  arrangements,  instruction  and  government  under 
the  recitations  and  lectures  of  experienced  and  well-known 
teachers  and  educators."  On  these  two  lines  the  institute 
has  continued  to  move ;  that  is,  it  has  combined,  with  fluctu- 
ating emphasis,  the  two  ideas  of  general  and  special  prepa- 


26  THE    TRAINING   OF    TEACHERS  [384 

ration  for  teachers.  Commonly  the  revision  and  extension 
of  studies  comes  through  the  instruction  in  methods,  as 
instructors  or  lecturers  draw  freely  upon  subject-matter  for 
the  purpose  of  illustration ;  but  sometimes  formal  instruc- 
tion is  given  in  the  more  difficult  parts  of  the  several  sub- 
jects taught  in  the  schools,  as  geography,  grammar,  history, 
and  the  like.  The  professional  instruction  relates  to  the 
science,  the  art,  and  the  history  of  teaching,  and  school 
organization,  management,  and  economy.  Mention  should 
be  made,  however,  of  what  may  be  called  the  culture  aspect 
of  the  institute  —  the  lectures  and  other  exercises  that  bring 
forward  literary,  historic,  scientific,  and  other  similar  sub- 
jects. The  institutes  of  the  states  taken  together  would 
furnish  a  wide  range  of  instruction  and  culture.  In  those  of 
Massachusetts  for  1897-98,  there  were  presented  seventy- 
three  distinct  topics,  which  no  doubt  considerably  overlapped. 

Putting  all  the  facts  together,  we  may  give  this  definition 
of  a  teachers'  institute  :  A  school  for  teachers  having  a  short 
and  a  vaguely  defined  course  of  study,  and  having  as  its 
main  object  the  instruction  of  teachers,  and  particularly  non- 
professional teachers,  in  the  elements  of  their  art  and  their 
stimulation  to  excellence  in  scholarship  and  teaching. 

The  institutes  are  held  in  all  seasons  of  the  year,  summer 
being,  perhaps,  the  preferred  time.  In  Pennsylvania  and 
New  York,  in  both  of  which  states  the  work  is  well  organ- 
ized, they  come  in  the  months  October-December  and 
March-May. 

So  long  as  attendance  was  purely  voluntary  the  results 
were  gratifying  but  not  satisfactory ;  often,  but  not  uni- 
versally, the  principle  of  legal  compulsion  has  therefore 
been  invoked.  In  1867  Pennsylvania  passed  a  law  requir- 
ing acting  teachers  to  attend  their  respective  institutes. 
A  similar  provision  is  in  force  in  the  state  of  New  York. 
When  attendance  is  compulsory,  the  teacher's  salary  goes 
on,  the  same  as  though  she  were  on  duty  in  the  school 
room ;  at  least  if  the  institute  is  held  in  the  school  term. 
In  such  cases  the  local  school  authorities  are  required  to 


385]  THE    TRAINING   OF    TEACHERS  2 7 

close  the  schools,  but  when  attendance  is  optional,  they  fol- 
low  their  own  counsel  in  the  matter. 

Statistics  of  teachers'  institutes  are  not  found  in  the  recent 
annual  reports  of  the  Bureau  of  Education.  For  the  year 
1886-87  the  commissioner  reported  2,003  institutes,  with  an 
enrolled  attendance  of  138,986  persons.  It  would  not  be 
wide  of  the  mark,  perhaps,  to  say  that  the  annual  attendance 
equals  one-half  the  total  number  of  teachers  in  the  schools. 

Institute  instruction  is  a  more  difficult  art  than  class-room 
instruction.  It  combines  the  best  elements  of  the  lecture 
and  the  recitation.  It  is  not  surprising  therefore  that  the 
institute  has  created  a  class  of  professional  instructors  or 
lecturers.  The  agents  of  the  Massachusetts  board  of  educa- 
tion devote  much  time  to  the  institutes,  while  New  York 
supports  a  special  institute  faculty.  There  has  also  appeared 
a  class  of  lecturers,  some  with  and  some  without  other  edu- 
cational connections,  who  move  in  much  wider  circles,  visit- 
ing institutes  in  widely  separated  states.  Still,  taking  the 
country  together,  the  main  reliance  is  upon  men  and  women 
who  are  regularly  engaged  in  school  work,  as  superintend- 
ents, and  principals  of  schools  and  professional  teachers.  Col- 
lege and  normal  school  professors  are  also  frequently  drawn 
into  the  service.  In  fact,  if  the  annals  of  the  institute  were 
written  in  full,  they  would  contain  the  names  of  many  of  the 
most  eminent  scholars  and  teachers,  men  of  letters  and  men 
of  science,  of  the  last  sixty  years.  Instruction  in  the  methods 
of  the  institute  is  often  given  in  normal  schools. 

The  so-called  summer  institutes,  extending  over  a  period 
of  from  four  to  six  weeks,  which  call  together  large  numbers 
of  enthusiastic  teachers  and  very  able  corps  of  instructors, 
and  which  are  becoming  more  common  every  year,  do  not 
differ  materially  from  the  summer  schools  soon  to  be  men- 
tioned, in  character.  They  are,  however,  carried  on  under 
state  auspices,  while  those  schools  are  local  or  private 
enterprises. 

At  first  the  institute  was  regarded  as  a  merely  temporary 
expedient :    it  has  already  continued  sixty  years.     Again, 


28  THE    TRAINING    OF    TEACHERS  [386 

while  it  was  called  into  existence  only  as  a  means  of  helping 
persons  who  were  already  engaged  in  teaching,  it  has,  unfor- 
tunately, sometimes  been  made  an  agent  for  preparing  intend- 
ing teachers  for  their  work.  Still,  representative  educators 
have  never  for  a  moment  regarded  it  as  a  substitute  for  the 
school,  either  general  or  special.  Pressed  into  a  service  for 
which  it  was  never  intended,  it  has  been  the  source  of  some 
evil ;  but  the  balance  is  overwhelmingly  on  the  other  side. 
It  has  been  useful  in  ways  that  the  founders  did  not  antici- 
pate or  fully  anticipate.  It  has  given  teachers  higher  ideals 
of  education  and  teaching,  enlarged  their  acquaintance  with 
educational  men  and  with  one  another,  created  professional 
spirit,  and  generated  enthusiasm.  It  has  also  been  an  impor- 
tant means  of  developing  educational  intelligence  and  inter- 
est in  society.  Upon  the  whole,  there  is  reason  to  think 
that  the  teachers'  institute  possesses  lasting  usefulness ;  in 
other  words,  that  it  fills  a  place  in  our  school  economy  that 
no  other  agent  can  fill,  and  that  it  will  become  one  of  our 
permanent  educational  institutions." 

IV     THE    SUMMER    SCHOOL    FOR    TEACHERS 

In  its  more  popular  form,  the  summer  school  for  teachers 
is  a  sort  of  cross  between  the  normal  school  and  the  teach- 
ers' institute.     Three  types  may  be  recognized. 

The  first  type  to  be  mentioned  is  seen  in  the  schools  that 
form  part  of  the  summer  assemblies  sometimes  called 
*'  Chautauquas,"  which  combine  popular  entertainment,  rec- 
reation and  diversion,  and  social  intercourse  with  serious 
instruction  and  ethical  and  religious  culture. 

The  next  type  is  the  familiar  summer  school,  seen  at  the 
normal    schools,   colleges,   and   universities.     Such  schools 

*  Authorities  on  teachers'  institutes. —  Henry  Barnard,  normal  schools,  etc., 
Hartford,  1851;  The  American  journal  of  education,  vol.  Ill,  p.  673,  XIV,  p.  253, 
XV,  p.  276,  405,  XXII,  p.  557.  J.  H.  Smart,  Teachers'  institutes,  Washington, 
1887.  S.  S.  Randall,  History  of  the  common  school  system  of  the  state  of  New- 
York,  N.  Y.,  i?,"]!,  passim.  J.  P.  Wickersham,  History  of  education  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, Lancaster,  Pa.,  1884,  passim.  James  P.  Milne,  Teachers'  institutes,  Syra- 
cuse, N.  Y.,  1894.  B.  A.  Hinsdale,  Horace  Mann  and  the  common  school  revival 
in  the  United  States,  pp.  136-138. 


387]  THE    TRAINING   OF    TEACHERS  29 

have  been  stimulated  by  the  example  of  Chicago  university 
in  offering  to  students  regular  summer  terms.  At  some  of 
the  normal  schools  the  summer  school  has  already  become 
a  regular  summer  session  ;  moreover,  there  are  indications 
that  some  of  the  colleges  and  universities  will  do  the  same 
thing ;  in  fact,  the  University  of  Wisconsin  has  already  taken 
the  step. 

Schools  of  the  third  type  are  organized  and  carried  on  at 
chosen  seats  by  private  individuals  or  by  associations  of 
individuals.  These  schools  combine  both  business  and  edu- 
cational features.  They  are  generally  found  at  places  offer- 
ing attractive  features  as  summer  resorts,  and  so  offer  to 
their  patrons  the  combined  attraction  of  an  outing  and  a 
term  of  school.  Perhaps  the  best  known  of  all  these  insti- 
tutions is  that  of  Martha's  Vineyard,  Massachusetts,  founded 
in  1878  and  chartered  three  years  later.  It  is  also  called  an 
institute.  It  has  twenty  academical  departments,  counts 
forty  instructors  on  its  staff,  and  enrolls  annually  five  hun- 
dred students.  In  the  twenty-one  years  of  its  history  it  has 
taught  9,000  or  10,000  persons. 

Irrespective  of  type  these  schools  commonly  offer  to  their 
patrons  both  general  and  special  advantages ;  in  other 
words,  they  teach  both  academical  and  pedagogical  subjects, 
and  also  introduce  cultural  elements  of  a  considerably  diver- 
sified character.  While  they  offer  attractions  to  other  per- 
sons, and  actually  enroll  some  of  them  in  their  classes,  the 
great  functions  of  these  schools  is  to  fit  teachers  and  intend- 
ing teachers  for  their  work.  Their  faculties  contain  many 
instructors  and  lecturers  of  marked  ability  and  high  stand- 
ing in  the  world  of  letters,  education,  or  science.  All  things 
considered,  serious  instruction  has  not  perhaps  anywhere 
been  offered  to  teachers  in  a  more  attractive  form  than  in 
the  best  of  these  summer  schools.  These  schools,  no  doubt, 
approach  nearer  than  any  other  agencies  for  fitting  teachers 
in  the  United  States  to  the  great  summer  meetings  held  for 
the  same  purpose  at  Oxford,  Cambridge,  and   Edinburgh.* 

'Balfour   Graham,  The   Educational    systems    of    Great   Britain  and  Ireland, 
Oxford,  1898,  pp.  252,  253. 


30  THE    TRAINING    OF    TEACHERS  [388 


V     UNIVERSITY    EXTENSION    COURSES 

University  extension  is  an  importation  from  England. 
Here,  as  there,  the  idea  is  to  carry  the  university  to  the 
student  rather  than  to  bring  the  student  to  the  university. 
However,  the  "university"  that  is  so  carried  is  sometimes 
nothing  more  than  a  secondary  school.  The  method  involves 
a  local  center,  a  local  committee  of  managers,  local  arrange- 
ments, including  the  guaranteeing  of  a  certain  sum  of  money, 
and  an  instructor.  The  university  sends  the  instructor,  who 
gives  a  course  of  lectures  on  a  subject  previously  agreed 
upon ;  a  class  follows  each  lecture,  essays  are  prepared  and 
corrected,  and  needed  books  are  supplied.  In  its  purity  the 
method  involves  a  final  examination  and  the  granting  of 
certificates  to  deserving  students.  For  some  reason  the 
results  of  university  extension  in  the  United  States  have 
been  less  satisfactory  than  in  England.  Ostensibly,  the 
movement  takes  no  account  of  teachers  as  teachers ;  and  the 
only  reason  for  including  it  in  this  survey  is  the  fact  that 
teachers  are  generally  very  prominent  on  the  local  commit- 
tees and  in  attendance  upon  the  classes.  This  fact  has  been 
recognized  by  the  occasional  presentation  of  instruction  suit- 
able to  their  particular  needs  ;  pedagogical  courses  are  some- 
times met  with  on  extension  programs. 

VI  teachers'  reading  circles 
The  teachers'  reading  circle  movement  is  believed  to  have 
originated  in  Ohio.  Mrs.  D.  L.  Williams,  a  veteran  teacher 
of  that  state,  threw  out  the  primal  idea  in  a  paper  read 
before  the  State  teachers'  association  in  July,  1882.  She 
said  she  had  for  many  years  entertained  the  theory  that  a 
course  of  reading,  partly  professional  and  partly  general, 
and  reaching  through  several  years,  might  be  instituted 
under  the  management  of  the  association  that  would  be  of 
extreme  value,  particularly  to  young  teachers,  and  added 
that  since  the  Chautauqua  literary  course  had  proved  such 
an  eminent  success,  she  had  more  confidence  than  ever  in 


389]  THE    TRAINING   OF    TEACHERS 


31 


the  feasibility  of  the  plan.  The  suggestion  was  immediately 
caught  up  by  the  association,  steps  being  taken  at  once  that 
led  to  the  immediate  organization  of  a  course  of  readmg. 
The  next  year  the  Ohio  teachers'  reading  circle  was  fully 
organized.  The  constitution  embraced  a  board  of  control 
to  conduct  the  general  business  in  connection  with  the  state 
association,  a  course  of  professional  and  literary  reading,  the 
issuing  of  certificates  of  progress  to  the  members,  and  the 
granting  of  diplomas  upon  the  completion  of  the  course, 
which  was  to  extend  over  four  years.  In  1884  a  member- 
ship of  more  than  2,000  was  reported,  and  in  1887  the  first 
class  was  graduated.' 

Such  was  the  beginning  of  a  movement  that  has  extended 
to  many  states  of  the  Union.  Naturally  enough,  the  results 
that  have  been  obtained  in  different  states  and  communities 
vary  considerably  in  respect  to  efficiency  and  value.  It  is 
generally  conceded,  however,  that  the  Indiana  circle  has 
been  conducted  quite  as  successfully  as  any  other  of  the 
state  circles,  if  not  indeed  more  successfully  than  any  other, 
and  this  fact  will  be  a  sufficient  justification  for  some 
remarks  of  a  more  specific  character. 

This  circle,  which  was  organized  in  December,  1883, 
derives  its  constitution  from  the  State  teachers'  association. 
The  executive  management  is  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  board 
of  directors,  one  of  whom  is  the  state  superintendent  of 
public  instruction  ;  of  the  six  other  members,  one  must  be  a 
county  superintendent,  one  a  city  superintendent,  and  four 
practical  teachers,  all  elected  by  the  state  association  for  a 
term  of  three  years.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  board  to  plan  a 
course  of  reading  from  year  to  year  to  be  pursued  by  the 
public  school  teachers  of  the  state  ;  to  select  the  books  to  be 
read ;  to  provide  for  examinations  on  the  courses,  and  to 
prepare  questions  for  the  same  ;  to  issue  certificates  to  such 
teachers  as  pass  the  annual  examination  satisfactorily,  and 
to  issue  diplomas  to  such  teachers  as  pass  the  examination 

'The  Ohio  educational   monthly,    August,  1882,    pp.    316,  323;   August,   1883, 
pp.  307,  308,  309. 


32  ^  THE    TRAINING    OF    TEACHERS  [39O 

for  four  successive  years.  The  board  reports  to  the  state 
association  at  its  annual  meeting.  The  annual  membership 
is  about  fifteen  thousand,  twelve  thousand  teachers  and 
three  thousand  intending  teachers. 

The  Indiana  teachers'  reading  circle  has  been  a  powerful 
influence  in  the  education  of  the  state.  Several  circum- 
stances have  contributed  to  its  success.  One  of  these  has 
been  the  wise  management  of  the  board  of  directors,  which 
has  uniformly  commanded  the  respect  and  confidence  of 
teachers.  The  circle  has  been  strengthened  by  the  ofllicial 
recognition  of  its  work  by  the  state  board  of  education. 
This  the  board  does  by  accepting  the  examinations  of  the 
reading  circle  in  literature  and  the  science  of  teaching  in 
lieu  of  examinations  in  those  subjects  by  the  regular  exam- 
ining authorities.  The  character  of  the  reading  that  is  done 
can  best  be  shown  by  transcribing  the  list  of  books  from  the 
beginning. 

1884-85  —  Brooks'    Mental    Science;    Barnes'    General    History; 

Parker's  Talks  on  Teaching. 
1885-86  —  Brooks'  Mental  Science;    Smith's  English  Literature; 

Hewitt's  Pedagogy. 
1886-87 — Hailman's  Lectures  on  Education;  Green's  History  of 

the  English  People ;  Watts  on  the  Mind. 
1887-88  —  Lights     of     Two    Centuries;     Sully's     Handbook    of 

Psychology. 
1888-89  —  Compayrd"'s  History  of  Education;  The  Marble  Faun  ; 

Heroes  and  Hero  Worship. 
1889-90  —  Compayr^'s    Lecture   on   Teaching;    Steele's   Popular 

Zoology. 
1890-91 — Wood's  How  to  Study  Plants;  Boone's  Education  in 

the  United  States ;  with  review  of  previous  psycho- 
logical studies. 
1891-92  —  Page's  Theory  and  Practice  of  Teaching;  Hawthorne's 

Studies  in  American  Literature. 
1892-93  —  Fiske's    Civil     Government    in     the    United     States; 

Holmes'  Autocrat  of  the  Breakfast  Table. 
1893-94 — DeGarmo's  Essentials  of  Method;    Orations  of  Burke 

and  Webster. 
1894-95  — Tompkins'  Philosophy  of  Teaching  ;  Select  Letters  and 

Essays  of  Ruskin. 


39  0  THE   TRAINING   OF    TEACHERS 


33 


1895-96  — McMurry's  General  Method;   Studies  in  Shakespeare. 

1896-97  —  Guizot's  History  of  Civilization;  Tompkins*  Literary- 
Interpretations. 

1897-98— Bryan's  Plato  the  Teacher;  Hinsdale's  Teaching  the 
Language-Arts. 

1898-99 —  Henderson's  Social  Elements  ;  Bryan's  Plato's  Republic. 

The  Indiana  circle  embraces  no  important  feature  that 
is  not  found  in  other  states ;  such  special  prominence  as 
it  enjoys  is  due  solely  to  good  organization  and  wise 
management.^ 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  where  this  work  is  carried 
on  efficiently  it  is  left  solely  to  teachers  in  their  individual 
capacity ;  on  the  other  hand,  local  classes  or  circles  are 
formed,  with  prescribed  reading  for  prescribed  periods,  which 
hold  frequent  meetings,  conducted  by  a  local  leader,  often 
the  superintendent'  of  schools.  Enterprising  educational 
journals  contribute  their  help  to  the  work  by  publishing  in 
their  successive  issues  articles  that  elucidate  the  books  to  be 
read. 

The  future  of  the  teachers'  reading  circle  is  not,  perhaps, 
fully  assured.  It  is  conceded  that  it  has  done  much  good  in 
arousing  interest  in  the  better  culture  of  teachers,  in  organ- 
izing courses  of  reading  and  study,  and  in  giving  the  whole 
work  unity  and  consistent  direction.  Still,  the  question  is 
sometimes  asked  whether  it  would  not  now  be  better  to  leave 
the  whole  matter  to  local  initiative  and  direction,  or  to 
entrust  the  powers  now  exercised  by  the  state  board  of  con- 
trol or  directors  to  local  superintendents  and  their  advisers. 
There  is  good  reason  to  think  that  the  answers  which  are 
given  to  this  question  are  influenced  not  a  little  by  the  char- 
acter of  the  work  that  has  been  done  in  the  communities  or 
states  from  which  the  answers  come. 

VI     CHAIRS    OF    EDUCATION    IN  COLLEGES  AND  UNIVERSITIES 

The  growing  interest  in  training  teachers  was  not  long  in 
reaching  the  colleges  and  universities.     The  effect  was  first 

'  Report  of  the  superintendent  of  public  instruction  of   the  state  of  Indiana, 
1898,  pp.  449-462. 


34  THE    TRAINING    OF    TEACHERS  [392 

seen  in  the  academical  sphere,  but  it  soon  declared  itself  in 
the  professional  sphere. 

A  course  of  instruction  in  the  science  of  teaching  was  one 
of  the  features  of  the  "  new  system  "  that  President  Way- 
land  sought  to  establish  at  Brown  university  in  1850,  but  that 
system  was  not  permanently  successful  owing  to  lack  of  the 
necessary  funds  to  support  it.  Horace  Mann  caused  the 
study  of  the  theory  and  practice  of  teaching  to  be  made  a 
part  of  the  regular  course  in  Antioch  college,  Ohio,  on  the 
opening  of  that  institution  in  1853,  but  as  an  elective  study. 
From  1856  to  1873  a  normal  school  formed  a  department  of 
the  University  of  Iowa,  and  was  then  incorporated  into  the 
institution  as  a  chair  of  didactics.  In  1867  the  legislature 
of  Missouri  authorized  and  required  the  curators  of  the  State 
university  to  establish  a  professorship  in  that  institution,  to  be 
devoted  to  the  theory  and  practice  of  teaching  and  to  call 
some  suitable  person  to  discharge  its  duties.  The  chair 
does  not  appear,  however,  to  have  been  firmly  established, 
although  some  instruction  was  given  for  several  years  in  the 
subject,  until  1891. 

But  it  was  at  the  University  of  Michigan  that  the  teach- 
ing of  education  in  an  American  college  or  university  was 
first  put  on  a  solid  basis.  In  1874  President  Angell,  of  that 
institution,  incorporated  the  following  paragraph  in  his 
annual  report  to  the  board  of  regents  : 

"  It  cannot  be  doubted  that  some  instruction  in  pedagog- 
ics would  be  very  helpful  to  our  senior  class.  Many  of 
them  are  called  directly  from  the  university  to  the  manage- 
ment of  large  schools,  some  of  them  to  the  superintendency 
of  the  schools  of  a  town.  The  whole  work  of  organizing 
schools,  the  management  of  primary  and  grammar  schools, 
the  art  of  teaching  and  governing  a  school, —  of  all  this  it 
is  desirable  that  they  know  something  before  they  go  to 
their  new  duties.  Experience  alone  can  thoroughly  train 
them.  But  some  familiar  lectures  would  be  of  essential 
service  to  them." 

In  June,  1879,  ^^^  regents,  on  the  recommendation  of  the 


393]  THE    TRAINING   OF    TEACHERS  35 

president  and  faculty,  established  a  chair  of  the  science  and 
the  art  of  teaching,  the  objects  of  which  were  declared  to  be 
five  in  number :  To  fit  university  students  for  the  higher 
positions  in  the  public  school  service ;  to  promote  educa- 
tional science ;  to  teach  the  history  of  education  and  of  edu- 
cational doctrine  ;  to  secure  to  teaching  the  rights,  preroga- 
tives, and  advantages  of  a  profession  ;  to  give  a  more  perfect 
unity  to  the  state  educational  system  by  bringing  the  secon- 
dary schools  into  closer  relation  with  the  university.  At  the 
time  the  Bell  chairs  of  education  in  the  Universities  of 
Edinburgh  and  St.  Andrews  were  the  only  similar  ones  in 
English  speaking  countries. 

At  first  only  two  courses  of  instruction  were  offered  :  A 
practical  course,  embracing  school  supervision,  grading, 
courses  of  study,  examinations,  the  art  of  instructing  and 
governing,  school  architecture,  school  hygiene,  school  law, 
etc. ;  and  an  historical,  philosophical,  and  critical  course, 
embracing  the  history  of  education,  the  comparison  and 
criticism  of  the  systems  of  different  countries,  the  outlines 
of  educational  science,  the  science  of  teaching,  and  the  criti- 
cal discussion  of  theories  and  methods.  Two  lectures  a 
week  were  given  in  each  course.  Before  this  time,  how- 
ever, the  university  had  given  to  students,  on  their  passing 
examinations  in  certain  subjects,  a  teacher's  diploma,  which 
was,  however,  merely  a  certificate  to  the  student's  compe- 
tency to  teach  those  subjects.  One  of  the  two  courses  in 
education  was  now  added  to  the  requirements  for  this 
diploma.  The  field  of  instruction  has  continued  to  broaden 
and  the  courses  to  differentiate,  until,  in  the  year  1889- 1900 
ten  different  courses  are  offered,  viz.  :  One  in  the  art  and 
one  in  the  science  of  teaching ;  one  in  school  supervision 
and  one  in  the  comparative  study  of  educational  systems ; 
one  in  child  study  and  one  in  the  sociological  aspects  of 
education ;  and  four  in  the  various  phases  of  the  history 
of  education.  The  total  amount  of  work  offered,  given  in 
one  semester,  now  amounts  to  twenty-four  hours. 

Besides  these  courses  in  education,  teachers*  courses  are 


36  THE    TRAINING    OF    TEACHERS  [394 

offered  in  several  departments  of  the  university,  as  Greek, 
Latin,  German,  mathematics,  history,  etc.  These  courses 
are  of  two  types,  their  character  being  sometimes  deter- 
mined by  subject  matter  alone,  but  sometimes  by  the 
method  of  presentation  together  with  the  subject  matter. 
In  the  first  case,  the  professor  gives  merely  a  course  that 
he  thinks  the  intending  teacher  should  have,  properly  to 
qualify  him  to  teach  the  subject ;  in  the  second  case,  the 
professor  also  seeks  to  present,  or  at  least  to  illustrate,  the 
method  of  teaching  the  subject  in  the  school,  commonly 
dwelling  more  or  less  upon  the  peculiar  difficulties  that  it 
presents.^ 

This  somewhat  extended  account  of  what  has  been  accom- 
plished at  the  University  of  Michigan  will  not  be  thought 
out  of  place,  when  it  is  remembered  that  the  example  thus 
set  has  proved  to  be  stimulating  to  other  institutions  of 
learning.  The  same  original  causes  that  acted  in  Michigan 
have  also  acted  in  other  states.  Since  1879  numerous  chairs 
of  education  have  been  established  in  colleges  and  universi- 
ties, and  additional  chairs  are  being  founded  every  year. 
Education  has  come  to  be  recognized  as  a  fit,  if  not,  indeed, 
a  necessary  subject  of  college  and  university  instruction. 
Along  this  line  of  educational  development  the  state  univer- 
sities of  the  northwestern  and  western  states  have  been  the 
pioneers,  owing  in  great  part  to  the  fact  that  these  universi- 
ties are  organic  parts  of  state  school  systems,  and  in  part  to 
the  fact  that  these  sections  of  the  country  take  kindly  to 
new  educational  ideas. 

The  courses  offered  by  these  chairs  or  departments  of  edu- 
cation are  purely  elective  ;  they  count  towards  the  student's 
degree  the  same  as  courses  in  philosophy,  history,  or  politi- 
cal economy.  The  theory  is  that  courses  in  education  are 
just  as  informing  and  disciplinary  to  the  student  as  courses 

'Contributions  to  the  science  of  education.  By  William  H.  Payne,  New  York, 
1886.  Chap.  XV,  "Education  as  a  university  study,"  and  Appendix,  "  The  Study 
of  education  in  the  university  of  Michigan."  "Study  of  education  at  the  uni- 
versity of  Michigan,"  B.  A.  Hinsdale,  in  The  Educational  review,  vol.  VI. 


395]  THE   TRAINING   OF    TEACHERS  37 

in  cognate  subjects.  Not  unfrequently,  the  institution  gives 
a  teacher's  diploma  to  the  student  who  complies  with  certain 
requirements.  At  the  University  of  Michigan  these  require- 
ments are  the  following :  A  university  degree,  eleven  hours 
of  work  in  the  department  of  the  science  and  the  art  of 
teaching,  and  a  teacher's  course  in  some  other  department 
of  the  university.  Not  unfrequently,  too,  this  diploma, 
either  directly  or  indirectly,  is  legally  valid  as  a  certificate  to 
teach  in  the  public  schools  of  the  state. 

At  different  institutions  the  pedagogical  work,  while  con- 
forming to  a  common  type,  has  naturally  been  developed  in 
somewhat  different  directions.  What  is  more,  the  services 
of  a  single  professor  have  not  always  proved  to  be  sufficient 
to  do  all  the  work  that  is  called  for ;  but  this  phase  of  the 
subject  may  perhaps  be  treated  to  better  advantage  under 
the  next  division  of  the  general  subject. 

VII  teachers'  colleges 
Three  hundred  years  ago  Richard  Mulcaster,  master  of 
Merchant  tailors'  school,  London,  proposed  a  teachers'  col- 
lege as  a  department  of  a  university.  "  I  conclude,  there- 
fore," he  said,  "that  this  trade  requireth  a  particular  college, 
for  these  four  causes.  First,  for  the  subject,  being  the  mean 
to  make  or  mar  the  whole  fry  of  our  state.  Secondly,  for 
the  number,  whether  of  them  that  are  to  learn,  or  of  them 
that  are  to  teach.  Thirdly,  for  the  necessity  of  the  profes- 
sion, which  may  not  be  spared.  Fourthly,  for  the  matter  of 
their  study,  which  is  comparable  to  the  greatest  possessions, 
for  language,  for  judgment,  for  skill  how  to  train,  for  variety 
in  all  points  of  learning,  wherein  the  framing  of  the  mind 
and  the  exercising  of  the  body  craveth  exquisite  considera- 
tion, besides  the  staidness  of  the  person." '  This  good  seed, 
however,  fell  into  barren  soil.  Prof.  S.  S.  Laurie  renewed 
the  suggestion  in  a  somewhat  different  form  in  the  address 
that  he  delivered  in  1876  on  assuming  the  duties  of  the 

*  Positions  wherein  those  primitive  circumstances  be  examined  which  are  neces- 
sary for  the  training  of  children,  etc.     London,  1851,  chap.  xli. 


38  THE   TRAINING   OF    TEACHEE^  [396 

chair  of  the  theory,  history,  and  art  of  education  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Edinburgh.  Vindicating  the  establishment  of  this 
chair,  he  said  :  **  It  makes  it  possible  to  institute  for  the  first 
time  in  our  universities  a  faculty  of  education,  just  as  we 
may  be  said  already  to  have  a  faculty  of  law,  theology  and 
of  engineering." '  No  foreign  country  has  yet  taken  steps 
in  this  direction,  and  it  has  been  left  to  the  United  States 
first  to  realize  the  suggestion  of  a  faculty  of  education,  or, 
more  accurately  perhaps,  of  a  college  for  teachers. 

Instruction  in  the  science  and  the  art  of  teaching  was 
included  in  the  university  scheme  that  was  proposed  for 
Columbia  college  in  1858,  but  then  without  avail.  Again, 
President  Barnard  urged  the  same  plan,  which  he  now 
worked  out  much  more  fully,  upon  the  trustees  of  the  same 
college  in  1881  and  1882.  The  next  step  forward  was  the 
organization  in  New  York  city,  in  1888,  of  Teachers  college, 
which  was  chartered  the  following  year.  While  this  college 
was  organized  outside  of  the  Columbia  system,  it  was  still 
under  the  control,  in  great  part,  of  Columbia  men,  and  was 
loosely  affiliated  with  the  college.  The  last  step  in  the  evo- 
lution came  in  1898,  when  Teachers  college  was  made  an 
integral  part  of  the  educational  system  of  Columbia  uni- 
versity.' The  president  of  Columbia  is  president  also  of 
the  college,  and  the  university  professors  of  philosophy  and 
education  and  of  psychology  are  members  of  its  faculty, 
while  the  college  is  represented  in  the  university  council 
by  its  dean  and  an  elected  representative.  The  college, 
however,  continues  its  own  separate  organization,  having  its 
own  independent  board  of  trustees,  which  is  charged  with 
the  sole  financial  responsibility  of  its  management. 

Teachers  college  is  the  professional  school  of  Columbia 
university  for  the  study  of  education  and  the  training  of 
teachers,   ranking  with  the  schools  of  law,  medicine,  and 

'  The  Training  of  teachers,  etc.,  London,  1882.  See  inaugural  address  delivered 
on  the  occasion  of  the  founding  of  the  chair  of  the  institutes  and  history  of  edu- 
cation in  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  S.  S.  Laurie. 

'  See  an  Article  "  The  Beginnings  of  Teachers  College,"  by  Dr.  Nicholas  Murray 
Bntler,  in  Columbia  university  quarterly,  September,  1899. 


397] 


THE    TRAINING    OF    TEACHERS  39 


applied  science.  The  university  accepts  courses  in  education 
as  part  of  the  requirement  for  the  degrees  of  A.  B.,  A.  M., 
and  Ph.  D. ;  while  graduate  students  who  prefer  to  devote 
their  entire  time  to  professional  study  may  become  candi- 
dates for  the  higher  diploma  of  the  college.  The  college 
diploma  is  conferred  upon  students  who  have  successfully 
completed  some  one  of  the  general  courses,  and  a  depart- 
mental diploma  upon  those  who  have  fitted  themselves  for 
particular  branches  of  school  work.  Undergraduate  students 
of  Columbia  and  Barnard  colleges  may,  if  they  desire,  obtain 
the  diploma  of  Teachers  college  at  the  same  time  that  they 
receive  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  arts.  The  Horace  Mann 
school,  fully  equipped  with  kindergarten,  elementary,  and 
secondary  classes,  is  maintained  by  Teachers  college  as  a 
school  of  observation  and  practice. 

These  are  the  undergraduate  courses :  Secondary  course 
leading  to  the  degree  of  A.  B.  and  the  college  diploma; 
general  course  leading  to  the  college  diploma  in  elementary 
teaching ;  general  course  leading  to  the  college  diploma  in 
kindergarten  teaching.  Then  there  are  several  courses  lead- 
ing to  the  college  diploma  in  art,  domestic  art,  domestic 
science,  and  manual  training.  Candidates  for  the  first  of 
these  courses  must  be  either  college  graduates  or  candidates 
for  the  degree  of  A.  B.  in  Columbia  university.  There  is  a 
combined  course  of  study  prescribed  for  the  degree  of  A.  B. 
in  Columbia  university  and  the  diploma  of  Teachers  col- 
lege ;  but  particulars  must  here  be  omitted.  Graduate 
work  is  also  well  developed.  For  the  year  1898-99  the 
teaching  staff  counted  more  than  sixty  persons. 

New  York  university  school  of  pedagogy,  established  in 
1890,  aims  to  furnish  graduate  work  equal  in  range  to  other 
professional  schools.  The  school  is  an  organic  part  of  the 
university,  having  its  own  dean  and  faculty.  More  definitely, 
its  aim  is  declared  to  be  to  furnish  thorough  and  complete 
professional  training  for  teachers.  The  plan  of  the  school 
places  it  upon  the  same  basis  as  that  of  the  best  schools  of 
law,  medicine,  and  theology.     The  work  is  of  distinctively 


40  THE    TRAINING    OF    TEACHERS  [398 

university  grade,  and  graduates  of  colleges  and  normal 
schools,  and  others  of  equal  experience  and  maturity,  may 
find  in  this  school  opportunity  for  the  thorough  study  of 
higher  pedagogy.  In  1898-9,  the  instruction  was  distrib- 
uted in  four  major  and  eight  minor  courses,  viz. :  History 
of  education  ;  physiological  and  experimental  psychology ; 
analytical  psychology  ;  history  of  philosophy  ;  physiological 
pedagogics ;  elements  of  pedagogy ;  comparative  study  of 
national  school  systems ;  aesthetics  in  relation  to  education  ; 
sociology  in  relation  to  education  ;  institutes  of  pedagogy  ; 
ethics,  school  organization,  management,  and  administra- 
tion. Special  facilities  for  research  are  offered  in  the  semi- 
naries. The  degree  of  master  of  pedagogy  is  conferred 
upon  candidates  who  have  completed  five  of  the  foregoing 
courses,  three  of  them  majors ;  the  degree  of  doctor  of 
pedagogy,  upon  candidates  who  have  completed  the  four 
major  and  five  of  the  minor  courses.  The  school  does  not 
attempt  undergraduate  work.  There  is  no  practice  teach- 
ing, but  opportunity  is  given  for  the  critical  observation  of 
selected  schools.     The  staff  includes  ten  persons. 

Clark  university,  opened  in  1889,  has  given  much  atten- 
tion to  education  from  the  first,  and  the  subject  has  now 
been  made  a  sub-department  in  the  department  of  psy- 
chology, in  which  a  minor  may  be  taken  for  the  degree  of 
doctor  of  philosophy.  The  work  is  intended  to  meet  the 
needs  of  those  intending  to  teach  some  other  specialty 
than  education  but  who  wish  a  general  survey  of  the  his- 
tory, present  state,  methods,  and  recent  advances  in  the 
field  of  university,  professional,  and  technical  education, 
and  of  those  who  desire  to  become  professors  of  pedagogy, 
or  heads  of  instruction  in  normal  schools,  superintendents, 
or  to  become  professional  experts  in  the  work  of  education. 
The  program  for  the  year  1899  included  (i)  child  study,  edu- 
cational psychology,  and  school  hygiene ;  (2)  principles  of 
education,  history  of  education  and  reforms,  methods,  devices, 
apparatus,  etc.  ;  (3)  organization  of  schools  in  different 
countries,   typical   schools  and   special   foundations,   motor 


399]  THE    TRAINING   OF    TEACHERS  4 1 

education,  including  manual  training,  physical  education, 
etc.,  moral  education,  and  ideals.  Great  stress  is  placed  on 
original  investigation.  The  president.  Dr.  G.  Stanley  Hall, 
has  been  from  the  first  the  leader  of  the  child  study  move- 
ment in  the  United  States.  "  The  Pedagogical  Seminary," 
edited  by  him,  is  the  organ  of  the  educational  department  of 
the  university.  It  is  an  international  record  of  educational 
research  and  literature,  institutions  and  progress,  and  is 
devoted  to  the  highest  interests  of  education  of  all  grades. 
One  of  its  most  valuable  features  is  its  digests  of  meritorious 
contributions  to  educational  literature. 

The  department  of  pedagogy  in  the  University  of  Chicago 
has  as  its  primary  aim  to  train  competent  specialists  for  the 
broad  and  scientific  treatment  of  educational  problems. 
The  courses  fall  under  three  heads  :  Psychology  and  related 
work,  educational  theory,  and  the  best  methods  of  teaching 
the  various  branches.  Stress  is  laid  upon  the  relation  of 
pedagogy  to  other  subjects,  and  courses  are  offered  in  the 
proper  departments  in  which  the  methodology  of  such  sub- 
jects is  employed.  For  the  year  1898-99  such  courses  were 
offered  in  history,  sociology,  and  anthropology,  in  the  Eng- 
lish, German,  and  Latin  languages  and  literatures,  in  mathe- 
matics, and  in  geology.  The  courses  in  educational  theory 
are  preceded  by  the  introductory  courses  in  psychology, 
ethics,  and  logic,  given  in  the  department  of  philosophy. 

The  University  of  Chicago  has  also  established  a  college 
for  teachers  on  a  somewhat  novel  plan.  This  institution, 
which  was  founded  in  October,  1898,  is  an  outgrowth  of  the 
class  study  department  of  the  extension  division  of  the  uni- 
versity. It  is  a  "  downtown  "  college,  and  aims  to  provide 
instruction  of  high  grade  for  busy  people ;  or,  more  defi- 
nitely, "  for  any  and  all  persons  qualified  to  do  the  work, 
who  are  so  engaged  by  other  imperative  duties  as  to  make 
continuous  attendance  at  the  other  colleges  of  the  university 
impracticable." '     The  work  of  the  new  college  is  of  the  same 

•  "  The  Unirersity  of   Chicago  College   for  Teachers,"   in  UniTcrsity  record, 
vol.  Ill,  No.  31. 


42  THE    TRAINING    OF    TEACHERS  [40O 

grade  as  that  of  the  other  colleges  of  the  university.  Stu- 
dents may  take  much  or  little,  according  to  their  ability  and 
wishes,  but  when  the  requirements  have  been  met,  the  work 
is  crowned  with  a  degree.  The  school  aims  at  scientific, 
cultural,  and  disciplinary  results.  It  distinctly  denies  that  it 
is  in  any  sense  a  normal  school.  Moreover,  while  it  is  not 
exclusively  a  teachers'  school,  the  college,  nevertheless, 
emphasizes  instruction  suitable  to  the  special  needs  of  teach- 
ers sufficiently  to  justify  its  name.  The  distinctively  peda- 
gogical teaching,  like  all  the  teaching,  looks  to  knowledge 
and  scientific  training  rather  than  to  practical  applications. 
At  the  close  of  its  first  year  of  life  the  outlook  is  an  encour- 
aging one. 

The  University  of  Wisconsin  school  of  education  is  an 
expansion  of  the  former  department  of  education.  The  four 
main  lines  of  instruction  are  the  history,  the  philosophy,  the 
science,  and  the  practice  of  education.  The  school  aims  to 
afford  practical  and  healthful  instruction  to  intending  teach- 
ers, professors,  principals,  and  superintendents,  and  to  those 
students  who  desire  to  pursue  studies  and  investigations  in 
the  science  of  education. 

A  wealthy  and  public-spirited  lady  of  Chicago,  Mrs. 
Emmons  Blaine,  has  declared  her  purpose  to  establish  and 
endow  a  teachers'  college  of  high  grade  in  that  city,  and  the 
initial  steps  have  already  been  taken  to  carry  out  her  plan. 

The  institution  will  be  under  the  direction  of  Francis  W. 
Parker,  formerly  of  the  Chicago  Normal  School. 

Besides  the  agencies  for  the  training  and  cultivation  of 
teachers  that  have  been  enumerated,  there  are  still  others 
that  may  be  described  collectively  as  miscellaneous  in  their 
character.  Particular  reference  may  be  made  to  the  numer- 
ous associations,  societies,  institutes,  and  clubs  for  teachers 
of  various  degree  that  overspread  the  land.  No  other 
country  in  the  world,  it  is  probable,  is  so  well  furnished  with 
these  purely  voluntary  means  of  education.  They  con- 
tribute not   a  little  to   the  knowledge  and  cultivation   of 


40 1 ]  THE   TRAINING    OF    TEACHERS 


43 


teachers  as  well  as  to  the  elevation  of  educational  ideals  and 
the  formation  of  popular  opinion.  Then  there  are  the 
teachers'  libraries,  local  and  general.  The  organization  of 
such  libraries  has  sometimes  been  carried  to  such  perfection 
that  books  of  both  a  special  and  a  general  character  are 
practically  sent  to  the  teacher's  own  door.  New  York,  for 
instance,  provides  at  state  cost  for  the  necessary  expenses 
of  a  state  school  library  for  the  benefit  and  free  use  of  the 
teachers  of  the  state,  to  be  circulated  under  such  rules  and 
regulations  as  the  state  superintendent  may  establish.  This 
law  puts  at  the  use  of  the  teachers  of  the  state  an  excellent 
collection  of  books  on  the  simple  and  easy  condition  that 
they  shall  pay  the  postage  on  their  return  to  the  state  capital. 
The  certification  or  licensing  of  teachers  in  the  public 
schools  of  the  United  States  may  almost  be  called  a  burning 
question.  To  protect  the  schools  or  the  public  against 
unworthy  persons  without  burdening  deserving  teachers,  is 
the  problem  to  be  solved.  Much  of  the  difficulty  attending 
the  solution  of  the  problem  arises  from  the  highly  complex 
form  of  the  American  government,  and  the  emphasis  that  is 
everywhere  placed  upon  local  as  opposed  to  central  authority. 
Education  is  a  state,  not  a  national  function  ;  moreover,  the 
states,  in  accordance  with  the  popular  genius,  vest  this  power 
primarily  in  local  authorities,  sometimes  town  or  city  boards, 
but  more  frequently  county  boards  of  examiners.  In  recent 
years  many  of  the  states  have  set  up  state  examining  boards, 
empowered  to  issue  state  certificates  valid  either  for  life  or 
for  a  term  of  years.  None  of  the  states,  however,  have 
abandoned  the  earlier  local  boards,  which  still  examine  the 
great  majority  of  school  teachers.  In  Massachusetts,  which 
is  one  of  the  states  that  have  never  adopted  the  new  plan, 
there  are  three  hundred  and  thirty-three  boards  authorized 
to  grant  certificates,  not  one  of  which,  however,  is  legally 
valid  beyond  the  town  or  city  in  which  it  is  issued.  Many 
teachers,  and  these  generally  the  best  teachers,  naturally 
look  upon  the  existing  system  as  being  unreasonable  and 
burdensome,  and  insist  that  a  wider  validity  shall  be  given 


44  THE    TRAINING    OF    TEACHERS  [402 

to  their  certificates  when  they  have  once  proved  their  ability 
to  teach.  Sometimes  the  evils  of  the  system  are  mitigated 
and  the  system  so  rendered  less  intolerable  through  the  legal 
or  practical  recognition  of  the  principle  of  comity,  whereby 
the  attestation  of  one  examining  authority  is  accepted  by 
other  such  authorities.  Still  no  satisfactory  solution  has 
yet  been  reached. 

At  a  meeting  of  college  and  university  professors  of  educa- 
tion held  in  Washington,  D.  C,  in  July,  1898,  a  committee 
was  appointed  to  investigate  and  report  upon  the  certifica- 
tion of  college  and  university  graduates  as  teachers  in  the 
public  schools.  This  committee  has  finished  its  work  and 
published  its  report,  which  consists,  in  part,  of  an  exposition 
of  the  existing  laws  and  usages  so  far  as  the  certification 
of  such  graduates  is  concerned,  and  in  part  of  the  recom- 
mendations of  the  committee.  It  will  be  germane  to  the 
subject  of  this  monograph  to  include  in  it  the  salient  features 
of  this  report. 

The  committee  declares  unqualifiedly  in  favor  of  the  states' 
making  special  legal  provision  for  certificating  college  and 
university  graduates  in  the  public  schools,  whereby  they 
shall  be  exempted,  as  far  as  may  prove  to  be  consistent  with 
the  best  interests  of  the  schools,  from  the  ordinary  examina- 
tions. This  exemption  should  be  made  only  in  the  cases 
of  graduates  who  have  complied  substantially  with  the  fol- 
lowing requirements : 

(i)  The  graduate  shall  have  received  a  good  college  edu- 
cation terminating  in  a  bachelor's  degree.  (2)  He  must, 
also,  have  pursued  a  limited  number  of  studies,  not  more 
than  two  or  three,  of  a  congruous  nature  with  more  than 
ordinary  thoroughness  —  that  is,  have  had  a  degree  of 
specialization.  (3)  His  certificate  should  not  cover  all  the 
studies  of  the  high  school  course,  but  only  those  to  which 
he  has  devoted  special  attention,  as  just  explained.  (4)  The 
next  condition  is  that  the  graduate  shall  have  pursued,  in 
the  college  or  university,  or  in  some  school  having  college 
or  university  affiliations,  the  study  of  education.     (5)   He 


403]  THE   TRAINING   OF    TEACHERS  45 

should  also  take  one  or  more  teachers'  courses  in  the  branches 
of  knowledge  which  he  has  studied  most  thoroughly,  such 
courses  to  include  not  merely  the  academical  elements  of  the 
subject,  but  also  its  pedagogical  elements.  (6)  The  com- 
mittee also  recommend  that  the  candidate  shall,  if  possible, 
have  had  some  instruction  in  the  school  of  observation  or 
practice.  The  final  conclusion  is  that  the  college  or  uni- 
versity graduate  who  has  fulfilled  these  conditions  and  who 
has  good  health,  good  morals,  and  good  personal  cultivation 
should,  without  examination  external  to  the  college  or  uni- 
versity, be  certificated  to  teach  for  a  period  of  at  least  three 
years ;  and  if  at  the  close  of  this  probationary  term  he  has 
shown  himself  to  be  a  successful  teacher,  then  he  should  be 
certificated  for  life,  provided  he  expects  to  continue  in  the 
work.  In  the  case  of  graduate  students  the  committee  urges 
that  they  also  should  be  certificated  without  formal  exami- 
nation if  they  make  education  either  a  major  or  minor  study 
and  also  take  one  or  more  teachers'  courses  as  in  the  case  of 
the  ordinary  graduate. 

Perhaps  the  most  important  paragraph  of  the  report  relates 
to  the  study  of  education,  and  may  be  thus  summarized : 
This  study  should  be  elective,  and  should  count  towards  a 
student's  degree  as  other  elective  work  counts  ;  education,  as 
a  study,  is  just  as  informing  and  disciplinary  as  history,  phil- 
osophy, sociology,  or  politics ;  the  minimum  to  be  required 
should  be  about  twelve  hours  a  week  for  one  semester.  It 
should  begin  in  the  second  semester  of  the  junior  year, 
or  not  later  than  th6  first  semester  of  the  senior  year,  and 
continue  to  the  end  of  the  course.  Part  of  the  work  should 
be  prescribed  and  part  elective ;  the  prescribed  work  to 
include  one  scientific  and  one  practical  course.  The  scien- 
tific course  should  be  built  up  on  the  basis  of  some  knowl- 
edge of  physiology,  psychology,  logic,  ethics,  aesthetics,  and 
sociology,  and  should  present  an  outline  view  of  the  facts 
and  principles  of  education ;  the  practical  course  should 
embrace  general  methodology,  some  leading  special  metho- 
dologies,   as    the    language-arts,    history,    science,    school 


\ 

46  THE    TRAINING    OF    TEACHERS  [404 

hygiene,  school  practice,  and  management,  the  common  facts 
of  school  law,  the  general  features  of  an  American  state 
school  system,  etc.  The  electives  would  naturally  be  made 
from  a  group  of  subsidiary  courses  bearing  some  of  the  fol- 
lowing titles  :  The  history  of  education  in  its  various  phases  ; 
a  comparative  study  of  educational  systems ;  study  of  chil- 
dren ;  the  sociological  relations  of  education ;  the  relations 
of  pedagogy  to  other  sciences  and  arts ;  school  superintend- 
ence ;  the  history  of  school  studies  and  their  value  as  edu- 
cational instruments,  etc.  The  particular  election  or  elec- 
tions would  depend  on  the  student,  his  preparation  and  his 
plans  for  the  future.^ 

At  present  this  is  an  ideal  scheme,  although  most  of  its 
features  are  met  with  in  different  institutions ;  but  it  does 
not  seem  extravagant  to  expect  that  it  will  influence  future 
practice.  It  may  be  added  that  the  committee  thinks  that  the 
realization  of  inter-state  comity  on  a  large  scale  must  depend 
upon  the  improvement  and  elevation  of  existing  standards. 

It  is  not  altogether  easy  to  conceive  the  enormous  growth 
that  education  has  made  in  the  United  States  since  the 
beginning  of  the  educational  revival.  Unfortunately,  we 
have  no  statistics  that  exhibit  it  on  a  national  scale.  We 
shall,  however,  close  the  century  with  an  annual  common 
school  expenditure  of  more  than  $212,000,000,  with  more 
than  426,000  teachers,  and  with  more  than  15,500,000  pupils 
in  the  schools.  There  is  no  question  as  to  the  greatest 
defect  of  this  education.  We  must  accept  in  good  spirit  the 
judgment  of  the  German  critic,  Dr.  E.  Schlee,  delivered  the 
year  of  the  Columbian  exposition.''  "  If  in  every  office  the 
chief  factor  is  the  man,  and  in  school  the  teacher,  we  have 
come  to  the  weakest  point  in  the  American  school  system  — 
professional  teachers  are  wanting.  That  is  to  say,  most 
teachers  are  deficient  in  the  requisite  scientific  and  peda- 
gogical preparation  for  their  vocation."  But  it  must  be 
remembered  that  this  great  system  is  the  work  of  but  sixty 

'  The  report  is  found  in  th^  School  review,  Chicago,  June,  1899. 
''Report  of  commissioner  of  education,  1892-93.     Part  II,  chap.  III. 


405]  THE    TRAINING   OF    TEACHERS 


47 


years.  It  has  been  impossible  to  train  teachers  as  fast  as 
the  schools  required  them ;  the  need  has  constantly  outrun 
the  public  ability,  and  still  more,  perhaps,  the  public  ideals. 
Under  the  circumstances,  no  people  could  have  made  the 
supply  equal  the  demand.  Still,  much  has  been  done  to 
prepare  teachers  for  their  work,  if  not  as  much  as  should 
have  been  done.  The  agencies  that  have  been  employed, 
and  are  still  employed,  are  of  a  miscellaneous  character, 
evincing  plainly  enough  the  versatility,  not  to  say  shiftiness, 
of  the  American  mind.  The  system  is  marked  perhaps  by 
what  John  Stuart  Mill  once  called  "the  fatal  belief"  of  the 
American  public  "  that  anybody  is  fit  for  anything."  The 
national  inventiveness  appears  particularly  in  the  efforts  that 
have  been  made  to  supply  the  deficiencies  of  non-professional 
teachers.  The  success  that  has  attended  these  efforts  has 
tended  to  produce  satisfaction  with  mere  temporary  expe- 
dients. Necessity  has  been  the  mother  of  inventions  that 
continued  after  the  necessity  had  ceased.  The  fundamental 
lack  is  education  —  solid,  sound,  thorough  education.  Of 
agencies  that  minister  to  discursive  culture,  we  have  more 
than  enough.  Still,  what  is  said  above  of  teachers'  institutes 
may  be  said  of  these  agencies  taken  together  —  they  have 
done  far  more  good  than  evil. 

Our  system  undoubtedly  appears  very  imperfect  and  inade- 
quate to  foreign  critics  who  are  acquainted  with  the  more 
highly  organized  systems  of  France  and  Germany ;  but  it  is 
not  invidious  to  say  that  such  critics  are  not  always  well  pre- 
pared to  appreciate  all  the  features  of  our  civilization.  In 
the  present  instance,  they  may  safely  accept  our  assurance 
that,  however  impossible  our  system  might  be  in  continental 
countries,  in  America  it  works  much  better  than  they  can 
readily  conceive.  This  is  not  said  to  conceal  defects,  which 
are  freely  admitted,  but  only  to  secure  recognition  for  unde- 
niable merits.  Whether  new  features  will  be  added  to  the 
system,  or  whether  old  ones  will  be  lopped  away,  are  ques- 
tions that  the  future  must  answer.  For  the  present,  it  is 
reassuring  to  know  that  the  conviction  is  constantly  gaining 


48  THE    TRAINING    OF    TEACHERS  [406 

ground  that,  whatever  is  done  at  its  circumference,  the  system 
must  be  strengthened  at  its  center.  The  most  competent 
judges  will  not  dissent  from  the  proposition,  that  the  bright- 
est promise  of  the  future  is  seen  in  the  work,  present  and 
prospective,  of  the  colleges  and  universities  of  the  country. 

At  the  close  of  this  monograph,  it  may  not  be  amiss  to 
remark  that  it  presents  only  a  general  survey  of  its  subject. 
All  classes  of  institutions  that  deserve  recognition  have,  it  is 
believed,  been  characterized  ;  but  the  characterizations  have 
necessarily  been  brief.  In  selecting  the  institutions  that 
have  been  specifically  named,  the  sole  purpose  has  been  to 
select  those  that  are  typical  of  their  classes.  The  further 
observation  may  be  added  that,  of  the  436  universities  and 
colleges  reporting  to  the  commissioner  of  education  tech- 
nical, professional,  and  special  courses  of  study  for  the  year 
1896-97,  220  reported  courses  in  pedagogy. 

Additional  authorities  —  An  historical  account  of  the  State 
Normal  College  at  Albany,  N.  Y.,  etc. ;  Circular  of  the  New 
New  York  State  Normal  College,  Albany,  1899;  Columbia 
University  in  the  city  of  New  York,  Teachers  college, 
announcements,  1898-99,  and  1899- 1900,  ^^^  President's 
Report,  1898-99;  Columbia  University  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  Division  of  Philosophy  and  Psychology,  announce- 
ment, 1898-99;  New  York  University,  School  of  Pedagogy, 
announcements  for  the  tenth  year,  beginning  Sept.  27, 
1899,  etc.  ;  The  School  of  Pedagogy,  New  York  University, 
its  aims  and  opportunities  to  pupils  ;  Manual  of  the  Normal 
College  of  the  city  of  New  York  1897  ;  Twenty-eighth  annual 
report  of  the  Normal  College  of  New  York,  for  the  year 
ending  December  30,  1898,  etc. ;  Courses  of  study  and  rules 
for  the  government  of  training  school  for  teachers,  Brook- 
lyn, N.  Y.,  1897;  John  Fulton,  Memoirs  of  Frederick  A.  P. 
Barnard,  etc..  New  York,  1896,  chap.  XVII;  Martha's 
Vineyard  Summer  Institute,  1899,  Twenty-second  annual 
session ;  Clark  University,  etc.,  Register  and  eleventh 
ofificial    announcement,    1899;    University    of    Wisconsin, 


407]  THE   TRAINING   OF   TEACHERS  49 

announcement,  of  summer  session  for  1 899  ;  same,  Bulletin 
No.  29,  etc.,  1 899-1 900;  Historical  sketch  of  the  State 
university  of  Iowa,  J.  L.  Pickard,  etc.,  1899;  Catalogue  of 
the  Peabody  normal  college  for  the  year  1898-99. 


•  Department   of   Education 

FOR  THE 

United    States    Commission    to    the    Paris    Exposition    of   1900 


MONOGRAPHS    ON     EDUCATION 


UNITKD     STATKS 

edited  3Y 

NICHOLAS  MURRAY  BUTLER 

Professor  of  Philosophy  and  Education  in  Columbia  University,  New  York 


SCHOOL     ARCHITECTURE 

AND 

HYGIENE 


BY 


GILBERT  B.  MORRISON, 
Principal  of  the  Manual  Training  High  School,  Kansas  City,  Missouri 


This  Monographs    contributed  to  the  United  States  Educational  Exhibit  by  thk 

State  of  New  York 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE  AND  HYGIENE 


The  school  house  is  an  infallible  index  of  the  educational 
status  of  the  community  in  which  it  is  located.  It  stands  at 
once  a  monument  and  a  history  of  the  mistakes  or  successes, 
the  ignorance  or  wisdom,  the  poverty  or  opulence,  the  par- 
simony or  generosity  of  the  people  who  have  erected  and 
maintained  it.  From  the  forbidding  shanty  on  the  country 
cross  roads  in  the  backwoods  to  the  palatial  edifice  in  the 
most  enlightened  city,  this  building  tells  a  story  in  letters  so 
plain  and  so  unmistakable  that  "  he'  who  runs  may  read." 
The  school  house  teaches  not  alone  a  lesson  in  architecture, 
but  lessons  in  sanitation,  in  engineering,  in  aesthetics,  and  in 
pedagogics.  The  building  from  the  school-room  furnishings 
and  devices  for  teaching  to  the  finishing  touches  of  the 
exterior,  is  a  composite  resultant  of  the  work  of  teacher, 
superintendent,  school  director,  engineer,  and  architect. 

The  growth  of  the  American  school  house  is  commensu- 
rate with  the  growth  of  American  education.  From  the  four 
bare  walls  where  the  three  R's  were  formerly  taught  to  the 
modern  laboratory  or  art  room  in  which  are  combined  the 
appliances  for  the  best  teaching  and  for  the  expression  of 
the  best  taste,  these  material  evidences  epitomize  the  educa- 
tional situation  in  our  country.  The  consideration  of  school 
house  building,  therefore,  becomes  a  question  of  the  highest 
importance. 

The  necessary  features  to  be  secured  in  building  a  school 
house  named  in  the  order  of  their  relative  importance  are, 
I.  Shelter;  2.  Adequate  space;  3.  Warmth;  4.  Ventila- 
tion; 5.  Light;  6.  Interior  furnishings  and  appliances; 
7.   Beauty. 

The  ends  to  be  attained  in  all  of  these  features  are  essen- 
tially the  same  for  all  types  of  buildings  from  the  one-room 


4  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  [4I2 

country  school  house  to  the  most  expensive  structure  built 
in  the  city  for  high  school  or  college  purposes.  The  appli- 
cation of  the  principles  involved  in  securing  these  ends  in 
buildings  of  every  variety  of  cost  and  function  requires  a 
vast  diversity  of  treatment. 

In  all  of  the  above-named  features  of  a  building,  the  three 
ends  to  be  sought  are  hygienic,  economic,  and  mechanical. 
In  all  cases  alike,  it  is  mechanical  skill  and  ingenuity  work- 
ing with  the  means  at  their  command  to  reach  the  best 
hygienic  results.  The  features  requiring  the  greatest  skill 
are  warming  and  ventilating,  and  the  general  architectural 
effect  given  to  the  building  in  its  construction  and  in  its 
location. 

In  his  book  on  "  The  Warming  and  Ventilation  of  School 
Buildings,"  the  writer  has  treated  somewhat  in  detail  the 
principles  underlying  the  subjects  of  the  present  essay,  and 
it  is  his  object  here  to  outline  in  the  briefest  manner  to  what 
extent  these  principles  have  been  put  into  practice  in  the 
school  houses  of  the  United  States.  In  order  to  do  this,  he 
has  thought  best  to  select  some  of  our  best  buildings  as 
examples  representative  of  the  various  types,  pointing  out 
their  merits  and  calling  attention  to  their  defects,  and  sug- 
gesting where  improvements  could  be  made.  To  fully  treat 
in  a  thorough  and  scientific  manner  the  principles  involved 
in  building  a  school  house  is  beyond  the  scope  of  this  article. 
The  object  here  is  simply  to  embody  into  the  discussion  of  a 
few  types  the  results  of  the  best  theory  as  exemplified  in  the 
best  practice. 

THE    COUNTRY    SCHOOL    HOUSE 

The  majority  of  the  children  of  the  United  States  go  to 
school  in  the  country.  The  country  school  house,  therefore, 
deserves  its  share  of  attention.  On  account  of  economic 
conditions,  the  instruction  must  be  carried  on  in  a  single 
room  of  sufficient  size  to  accommodate  the  children.  In 
many  of  the  states  the  unsanitary  conditions  usually  prevail- 
ing in  rural  districts  have  been  partially  overcome  by  proper 
oversight  on  the  part  of  intelligent  supervisors. 


413]  SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE   AND    HYGIENE  5 

As  economy  is  the  chief  end  to  be  considered  in  most  rural 
districts,  a  plan  by  Wm.  P.  Appleyard  and  E.  A.  Bowd  (Plate 
I)  is  selected  as  meeting  a  sufficient  number  of  the  neces- 
sary requirements  to  form  an  intelligent  basis  of  treatment. 

While  this  house  can  be  built  for  about  $600,  it  presents 
a  neat  and  attractive  appearance.  Its  exterior  reveals  the 
touch  of  the  architect's  hand,  and  the  educational  influence 
of  such  a  building  when  located  on  a  well-selected  site  can 
hardly  be  overestimated. 

The  building  is  24x32  ft,  outside  measurement,  and  com- 
prises a  school  room,  a  fuel  room,  a  wardrobe  for  boys,  a 
wardrobe  for  girls  and  a  porch ;  it  will  furnish  shelter  for 
thirty  pupils  in  single  seats,  or  thirty-six  pupils  in  double 
seats.  The  single  seat  should  always  be  provided  where 
the  rigor  of  economy  does  not  positively  forbid  it.  The 
single  seat  is  an  American  characteristic,  and  its  moral  influ- 
ence on  the  pupils  in  the  freedom  it  gives  them  from  too 
close  proximity,  as  well  as  its  assistance  to  the  teacher  in 
maintaining  order,  commends  it  to  universal  use. 

There  remains  very  little  to  be  said  about  the  proper  seat 
to  be  provided  in  furnishing  a  school  room.  The  seats  now 
on  the  market  and  furnished  by  all  dealers  in  school  furni- 
ture are,  in  the  main,  models  of  convenience,  comfort  and 
finish.  It  certainly  stands  to  the  credit  of  this  country  for 
having  invented  and  brought  into  almost  universal  use  the 
best  seat  which  any  country  has  produced.  These  seats  are 
graded  in  size  to  suit  the  age  of  the  pupils.  A  room  improp- 
erly seated  in  the  United  States  is  at  the  present  time  only 
chargeable  to  the  grossest  ignorance,  indifference  or  neglect. 

The  heating  is  accomplished  by  means  of  a  stove  placed 
in  one  corner  of  the  school  room.  The  time-honored  prac- 
tice of  placing  the  stove  in  the  center  of  the  room  has  given 
way  to  a  better  knowledge  of  the  principles  of  heating  and 
ventilating.  The  function  of  the  stove,  when  the  demands 
of  economy  require  its  use,  is  the  heating  of  the  room  by 
convection,  not  by  radiation.  While  the  radiated  heat  from 
the  sun  or  from  an  open  fire  is  most  cordial  and  beneficial. 


6  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  [4 1 4 

the  reverse  is  true  of  radiated  heat  from  a  stove.  The  air 
in  a  room  can  be  heated  almost  as  quickly  by  a  stove  placed 
in  one  corner  as  in  the  center  and  by  enclosing  it  in  a  jacket 
of  sheet  metal  the  parching  radiation  is  intercepted.  In  the 
present  case,  the  stove  serves  the  purpose  both  of  warming 
and  of  ventilation. 

The  diminished  specific  weight  of  air  when  its  tempera- 
ture is  raised  and  its  tendency  therefore  to  rise  lessened 
furnishes  the  basis  for  all  methods  of  so-called  natural  or 
gravital  ventilation. 

In  this  building,  the  chimney  is  divided  into  two  parts, 
one  for  smoke  and  the  other  for  a  foul  air  vent.  A  fresh  air 
duct  leading  from  the  outside  of  the  building  to  an  opening 
directly  under  the  stove  supplies  the  fresh  air.  As  the  air 
in  the  room  becomes  heated,  it  has  a  tendency  by  its  specific 
lightness  to  rise  through  the  foul  air  vent  in  the  chimney,  its 
place  being  constantly  supplied  by  the  cold  fresh  air  as  it 
flows  through  the  fresh  air  duct  becoming  heated  as  it  passes 
up  between  the  stove  and  the  zinc  jacket  enclosing  it. 

The  foul  air  duct  would  become  still  more  efficient  if  the 
chimney  instead  of  being  partitioned  had  simply  contained 
the  stove  pipe  extended  to  the  top.  A  heavy  galvanized 
iron  pipe  should  be  erected  and  securely  fastened  by  stays 
anchored  to  the  brickwork  when  the  chimney  is  built. 

The  chimney  for  a  single  room  should  have  an  interior 
cross  sectional  area  of  at  least  five  square  feet,  and  the  pipe 
should  be  placed  in  the  center  of  it.  By  this  means  the 
whole  chimney  not  occupied  by  the  pipe  becomes  a  vent  or 
aspirating  chimney  in  which  an  upward  current  is  main- 
tained by  the  heat  from  the  pipe.  The  foul  air  reaches  this 
vent  through  a  duct  leading  from  a  box  beneath  the  teacher's 
platform.  The  part  of  the  floor  under  the  platform  is 
lowered  to  form  the  under  side  of  the  box  while  the  top  of 
the  platform  forms  the  upper  side.  The  air  finds  access  to 
this  foul  air  box  through  openings  or  registers  placed  in  the 
riser  of  the  platform. 

The  total  area  of  these  registers,  and  also  the  cross  sec- 


415]  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  7 

tional  area  of  the  fresh  air  duct  should  be  about  equal  to 
that  of  the  chimney.  A  throttle  damper  should  be  placed 
in  the  fresh  air  duct  so  that  the  air  may  be  regulated  in 
severe  cold  weather  or  retained  in  the  room  during  the  night 
to  prevent  its  becoming  too  cold.  The  exit  registers  should 
also  be  closed  at  night. 

In  order  that  the  air  may  not  be  overheated  as  it  passes 
the  stove,  and  thus  rendered  unfit  for  breathing,  the  stove 
should  be  large,  so  that  the  increased  area  of  heating  surface 
may  obviate  the  necessity  of  extreme  overheating.  Besides, 
the  danger  from  overheating  the  air  by  highly  heated  sur- 
faces, it  should  be  remembered  that  iron  when  raised  to  a 
red  heat  becomes  pervious  to  the  poisonous  gases  of  com- 
bustion. One  of  the  products  of  coal  combustion  is  carbon 
monoxide  (CO),  a  very  poisonous  gas,  which,  if  allowed  to 
escape,  will  contaminate  the  air. 

The  method  of  conveying  the  foul  air  into  the  aspirating 
chimney  shown  in  Mr.  Appleyard's  plan  has  been  modified 
in  various  ways  in  different  localities.  In  a  plan  drawn  by 
Edbrook  &  Burnham,  architects,  Chicago,  used  in  some  of 
the  school  houses  in  Wisconsin  and  Illinois ;  and  in  a  simi- 
lar plan  drawn  by  Hackney  &  Smith,  architects,  Kansas 
City,  Mo.,  and  used  in  some  of  the  school  houses  in  Mis- 
souri, the  exit  registers  are  multiplied  and  placed  in  the 
floor  near  the  base  board  at  intervals  around  the  room.  The 
foul  air  gathering  "  box "  thus  becomes  the  entire  space 
between  the  floor  and  the  ground  below,  the  opening  into 
the  chimney  being  below  the  floor,  as  in  the  former  case.  A 
sanitary  objection  to  this  arises  in  the  fact  that  in  warm 
weather,  when  the  inside  is  cooler  than  the  outside  air,  the 
draft  is  liable  to  be  reversed  and  the  "  ground  air  "  under 
the  house  drawn  up  into  the  school  room. 

In  another  modification,  shown  in  plans  drawn  by  John 
R.  Church,  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  the  numerous  exit  registers 
are  placed  in  the  base  boards  and  open  into  ducts  rising  in 
the  walls  to  the  attic,  where  they  converge  and  unite  in  an 
opening  into  the  aspirating  chimney.     A  mechanical  objec- 


8  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  [4 1 6 

tion  to  this  arises  in  the  interference  with  the  free  movement 
of  the  air  imposed  by  the  large  amount  of  friction  in  numer- 
ous small  ducts. 

There  is  really  nothing  gained  by  multiplying  details  in 
conveying  air  from  a  room.  The  simplest  is  always  the  best 
way.  An  ordinary  wing  register  placed  in  the  vent  flue  just 
above  the  floor  is  probably  a  better  means  of  conveying  the 
foul  air  than  any  of  the  processes  just  mentioned.  It  is 
simple,  economical,  direct  and  frictionless. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  the  position  of  exit  regis- 
ters near  the  floor  is  here  recommended,  not  because  this  is 
the  ideal  position  for  them,  but  because  it  is  necessary  in  a 
room  heated  by  a  stove  to  trap  the  air  in  the  upper  part  of 
the  room,  and  to  keep  it  from  escaping  before  it  has  been 
utilized.  This  position  of  exit  registers  is  also  necessary 
with  all  systems  of  heating  which  have  heretofore  been  in 
use  in  school-house  building,  but  unnecessary  in  a  stage  of 
pneumatic  engineering  which  we  are  approaching,  reference 
to  which  is  made  on  a  subsequent  page. 

A  still  better  means  for  removing  the  foul  air  is  the  open 
fireplace.  This  is  used  in  a  few  districts  in  some  of  the 
northern  states.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  virtues  of  the 
open  fireplace  in  school  buildings  have  not  been  more  widely 
recognized.  Whether  considered  from  a  hygienic,  economic 
or  mechanical  standpoint,  this  old-fashioned  but  neglected 
device  is  much  to  be  commended.  When  it  was  discovered 
that  the  open  fire  does  not  furnish  an  adequate  means  of 
warming  in  severely  cold  weather,  it  gradually  gave  way  to 
more  effective  modern  devices ;  its  value  as  a  means  of  ven- 
tilation, however,  was  not  sufficiently  appreciated  to  save  its 
almost  total  abandonment.  When  combined  with  a  stove 
so  as  to  receive  into  it  the  smokepipe,  the  open  fireplace 
chimney  is  not  expensive.  In  moderate  weather  when  little 
heat  is  required,  the  open  fire  would  meet  the  demands  of 
warming  and  fulfill  all  the  requirements  of  perfect  ventilation. 

The  strong,  upward  draft  through  an  open  fireplace  chim- 
ney when  the  outside  is  cooler  than  the   inside  air,  even 


417]  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  9 

without  fire  in  the  grate,  is  a  matter  of  common  observation. 
Every  country  school  house  should  have  an  open  fireplace. 
A  small  fire  kept  burning  would  ventilate  the  room,  supple- 
ment the  heat  of  the  stove,  and  produce  by  its  cheerful, 
radiating  effect  a  wholesome  influence  on  the  pupils. 

As  the  radiation  from  an  open  fire  does  not  warm  the  air 
except  secondarily  from  the  solid  surfaces  of  objects  inter- 
cepting the  rays,  the  open  fire  cannot  be  employed  for  warm- 
ing except  in  mild  weather ;  but  its  other  advantages  here 
mentioned  make  it  a  most  profitable  investment. 

The  lighting  of  the  house  shown  in  Plate  I,  while  ample 
in  its  aggregate,  has  the  defect  common  to  most  school- 
houses —  that  of  light  on  two  sides.  A  school  room  designed 
for  academic  purposes  should  be  lighted  on  one  side  only. 
The  length  of  the  room  should  exceed  its  width  by  a  ratio 
of  about  3  to  2.  While  this  ratio  may  vary  within  reason- 
able limits,  the  width  should  not  be  greater  than  twice  the 
clear  height.  The  windows  on  one  of  the  longer  sides 
should  extend  to  the  top  of  the  room,  should  be  well  shaded, 
and  as  numerous  as  architectural  requirements  will  admit. 

The  hygienic  necessity  of  protecting  the  eyes  of  the  pupils 
by  admitting  the  light  at  the  left  or  the  back  has  been  uni- 
versally recognized,  but  a  like  consideration  for  the  rights  of 
the  teacher  has  been  generally  neglected. 

In  a  room  lighted  on  two  adjacent  sides,  either  the  teacher 
or  the  pupils  must  face  the  light,  and  the  teacher  by  com- 
mon consent  has  been  made  the  victim.  This,  more  than 
all  other  causes  combined,  is  hastening  the  premature  weak- 
ness of  the  eyes  of  our  teachers.  In  country  school  houses, 
the  light  is  commonly  admitted  on  opposite  sides,  but  this 
is  objectionable  on  account  of  the  disagreeable  and  injurious 
effects  of  cross  lighting.  The  necessity  of  lighting  on  one 
side  only  is  recognized  in  common  practice  in  Germany, 
but  it  has  been  generally  ignored  in  the  United  States  of 
America.  The  writer  is  aware  that  thoughtful  objections 
have  been  urged  in  this  country  against  limiting  windows  to 
one  side  of  class  rooms  —  that  the  practice  in  Germany  arose 


lO  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  [4 1 8 

from  the  possibility  there  of  admitting,  light  from  the  north 
only,  and  that  when  admitted  from  the  south,  east  or  west, 
the  direct  rays  will  dazzle  the  eyes  of  the  pupils  by  falling 
directly  upon  them  and  upon  their  work. 

While  these  objections  have  some  weight,  they  will  not 
stand  when  the  facts  are  carefully  considered.  If  there  is 
an  objection  to  windows  on  a  side  which  admits  direct  sun- 
light on  certain  hours  of  the  day,  it  is  not  plain  how  that  objec- 
tion could  be  removed  by  placing  windows  on  two  such  sides. 

When  windows  are  distributed  on  two  sides  of  a  nearly 
square  room,  as  is  the  case  in  the  conventional  corner  room 
in  most  buildings  of  more  than  one  room,  neither  side 
alone  is  sufficient  to  light  the  room  when  curtains  are  drawn 
on  the  other  side.  There  are  two  reasons  for  this  :  First,  the 
window  area  is  insufficient,  and  second,  the  distance  across 
the  room  of  the  common  square  form  or  lengthwise  in  rec- 
tangular form  is  greater  than  the  established  standard  for 
the  height  of  windows. 

The  objection  to  rectangular  rooms  lighted  exclusively  by 
numerous  windows  on  one  of  the  longer  sides  may  be  —  even 
though  this  side  be  on  the  south  —  entirely  removed  by  the 
proper  use  of  curtains.  The  curtains  for  such  a  room 
should  be  of  white  muslin  of  light  weight  mounted  on 
spring  rollers.  A  room  24x32  ft.  with  four  large,  full 
height  windows  in  one  of  its  longer  sides,  facing  south,  will, 
with  such  curtains  drawn  clear  down,  be  fully  lighted,  when 
the  sun  is  shining,  with  a  soft,  subdued,  well-diffused  and 
ample  light.  This  has  been  fully  demonstrated  by  the  writer 
who  used  such  a  curtain  for  several  years  in  a  large  physics 
demonstration  room  lighted  on  the  south  only  by  two  very 
large  windows  instead  of  the  four,  five,  or  even  six  which  it 
is  easy  to  obtain  in  a  building  planned  on  hygienic  principles. 

The  common  practice  of  admitting  light  at  the  back  of 
the  pupils  and  into  the  face  of  the  teacher  cannot  be  too 
strongly  condemned.  It  is  wholly  unnecessary,  false  in 
theory,  and  pernicious  in  practice,  as  the  ruined  eyesight  of 
thousands  of  teachers  can  attest. 


419]  SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE   AND    HYGIENE  II 

The  lighting  on  one  side  only  is  accomplished  in  the 
country  school  house  shown  in  Plate  II,  drawn  by  C.  Powell 
Karr,  architect,  New  York  city.  The  estimated  cost  of  this 
house  is  $1,200,  and  it  may  well  stand  as  a  model  of  build- 
ings of  this  class.  The  school  room  is  well  proportioned, 
24x33  ft,  and  with  its  seven  windows  on  one  side  and  a 
14  ft.  stud,  it  is  amply  supplied  with  direct  and  thoroughly 
diffused  light. 

The  stove  with  its  air  jacket  is  properly  located  in  one 
corner.  The  chimney  is  large  and  contains  a  properly  placed 
smoke  pipe  in  the  center.  However,  had  the  lower  part  of 
this  chimney  been  converted  into  an  open  fireplace,  the 
economic  and  hygienic  ends  would  be  still  better  served.  A 
coal  room  and  a  teacher's  room  add  to  the  convenience  and 
symmetry  of  the  building. 

A  separate  entrance  with  lobby,  cloak  room  and  hall  is 
provided  for  the  boys  and  girls  —  a  matter  of  no  small 
importance  in  a  country  school. 

The  back  doors  opening  out  of  the  halls  make  a  proper 
separation  between  the  girls'  and  boys'  walks  to  the  out- 
houses. These  walks,  let  it  be  here  noted,  should  always  be 
covered  and  the  sides  shielded  by  lattice  work. 

One  improvement  is  here  suggested  in  the  arrangement 
of  the  cloak  and  coat  rooms.  In  order  to  secure  light  and 
ventilation,  they  should  be  changed  from  the  inner  to  the 
outer  wall  of  the  halls  where  a  window  could  be  added  to 
furnish  the  necessary  light.  While  window  ventilation  is 
not  generally  recommended,  its  objection  is  less  in  a  cloak 
room  than  elsewhere. 

This  house  is  a  model  of  neatness  and,  all  essential  points 
considered,  may  stand  as  a  type  of  the  best  of  its  class. 

THE  TWO-ROOM  BUILDING 

In  small  hamlets  where  the  school  population  necessitates 
adding  another  room,  new  problems  present  themselves. 
As  the  hygienic  requirements  are  the  same  for  all  rooms, 
these  problems  are  chiefly  mechanical. 


12  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  [42O 

A  two-room  building  answering  all  economic  and  hygienic 
requirements  could  not  be  found,  but  the  plan  shown  in 
Plate  III,  drawn  by  Warren  R.  Briggs,  architect,  Bridge- 
port, Conn.,  is  a  fair  representation  of  the  best  that  has  been 
accomplished. 

This  building  has  two  rooms,  two  hat  and  coat  rooms,  and  a 
basement.  It  is  estimated  to  cost  $2,000.  The  basement  is 
built  of  stone,  and  the  upper  part  is  frame.  The  architectural 
treatment  gives  the  house  a  neat  and  attractive  appearance. 

As  we  leave  the  one-room  building  and  pass  to  those  hav- 
ing two  or  more,  economy  as  well  as  convenience  suggests 
the  centralization  of  the  heating  and  ventilating  apparatus. 
The  stove  is  enlarged,  placed  in  the  basement,  and  becomes 
a  "  furnace."  The  cold  air  duct  conveying  the  air  to  the 
source  of  heat  between  the  furnace  and  enclosing  jacket  is 
substantially  the  same  as  for  the  one  supplying  the  stove  in 
the  single  room,  except  that  it  has  double  the  cross-sectional 
area.  The  jacket  instead  of  being  open  at  the  top  is  closed 
with  branch  pipes  leading  to  the  rooms. 

In  Mr.  Briggs'  plan,  the  chimney  and  air  ducts  are  situ- 
ated centrally  as  they  properly  should  be.  The  warm  air  is 
admitted  near  the  top  of  the  rooms  through  the  inlet  ducts 
and  is  supposed  to  go  out  at  the  outlets  near  the  floor. 
This  it  will  do  only  when  there  is  a  considerable  difference 
between  the  inside  and  outside  temperature,  there  being  no 
provision  made  to  heat  these  outlet  ducts.  By  making  open 
fireplaces  of  these  ducts,  they  would  be  converted  into 
effective  aspirating  chimneys  and  would  also  serve  for  warm- 
ing the  rooms  in  mild  weather. 

In  the  method  of  heating  here  shown,  we  see  in  embryo 
the  "hot  air"  or  "indirect"  system  which  seems  to  be  the 
best  means  of  warming  small  buildings  with  comparatively 
few  rooms,  in  which  a  steam  or  hot  water  plant  cannot  be 
afforded,  and  where  the  destination  of  the  hot  air  is  not  far 
from  the  furnace.  The  furnace,  however,  in  small  buildings 
should  be  large  that  the  necessity  of  overheating  may  be 
obviated.  \ 


42 1]  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  1$ 

The  fireplace  before  suggested  should  be  heated  only  in 
mild  weather.  In  very  cold  weather  it  causes  unnecessary 
waste  of  air  as  well  as  of  fuel.  In  fact,  in  extremely  low 
temperatures,  ventilation  generally  takes  care  of  itself  unless 
the  room  is  very  close.  This  is  of  course  due  to  the  con- 
siderable difference  in  atmospheric  pressure  between  the 
inside  and  outside  walls  of  the  room. 

The  rooms  in  the  building  under  consideration  are  well 
proportioned  —  25x35  ft. —  and  are  well  conditioned  for 
exclusive  lighting  on  the  longer  sides.  This  would  provide 
a  place  for  the  teacher's  platform,  in  the  room  shown  on  the 
left  side  of  the  plan,  at  the  end  opposite  the  entrance,  throw- 
ing the  light  at  the  left  of  the  pupils.  The  present  position 
of  the  platform  sacrifices  valuable  space  and  makes  the 
teacher  face  the  broadside  light  while  seeing  the  faces  of  his 
pupils  in  shadow.  The  changes  required  by  these  sugges- 
tions while  of  the  greatest  importance  are  mechanically 
insignificant  and  simple. 

Excellent  as  is  the  present  plan  when  generally  con- 
sidered, it  is  too  expensive  for  the  ordinary  hamlet  district 
which  would  have  to  forego  the  luxury  of  a  basement.  To 
meet  the  economic  conditions  in  such  cases,  the  writer  sug- 
gests a  plan  shown  in  Plate  IV. 

This  plan  gives  well-lighted  wardrobes  with  a  convenient 
arrangement  of  doors. 

The  heat  is  furnished  by  stoves  placed  in  the  corners  of 
the  rooms.  The  angular  position  of  the  chimney  makes  it 
serve  well  the  purposes  of  both  rooms.  The  position  of 
fresh  air  and  smoke  pipes  are  shown  by  the  dotted  lines. 

The  teacher's  rooms,  which  are  a  convenience  for  many 
purposes,  may  be  dispensed  with  where  greater  economy 
demands  it. 

THE    THREE-ROOM    BUILDING 

With  each  addition  to  the  number  of  rooms  in  a  building, 
the  mechanical-  difficulties  incident  to  providing  all  the 
hygienic  requirements  increase.  To  supply  plenty  of  pure, 
warm  air  to  every  room,  to  conform  to  the  requirements  of 


14  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  [422 

lighting  and  seating,  to  provide  a  well-lighted  and  ventilated 
coat  and  cloak  room  adjacent  to  each  school  room,  to  have 
ample  and  well-lighted  corriders,  to  plan  with  a  view  to 
beauty  of  design,  and  withal  to  keep  within  the  bounds  of 
economy,  requires  a  profound  knowledge  of  principles,  prac- 
tical skill  and  sound  judgment. 

As  an  objective  basis  for  discussion,  another  building  — 
Plate  V  —  drawn  by  Mr.  Briggs,  has  been  selected.  Although 
not  ideal,  this  house  possesses  many  excellent  features. 

An  examination  of  the  plan  reveals  the  same  defect  in 
lighting  two  of  the  rooms  that  was  pointed  out  in  the  two- 
room  building, —  a  defect  which  is  easy  to  remedy  by  blind- 
ing the  windows  on  one  end  and  moving  the  teacher's  plat- 
form. The  only  other  defect  noticeable  in  this  plan  is  the 
use  of  the  main  hall  for  coat  and  cloak  rooms.  In  the  pres- 
ent case,  however,  this  defect  is  not  without  compensating 
advantages.  It  gives  freedom,  room,  and  publicity  in  the 
putting  away  and  the  taking  down  of  wraps,  and  it  econo- 
mizes space. 

The  objection  which  usually  prevails  against  the  hall  as  a 
place  for  wraps  is  the  odor  which  is  liable  to  come  from  the 
drying  of  wet  outer  garments.  This  objection,  however,  is 
partly  answered  in  the  present  building  by  the  position  of 
the  heating  and  ventilating  chimneys,  which  secures  good 
ventilation  for  the  hall,  and  thus  prevents  any  currents  of  air 
from  the  hall  into  the  school  rooms. 

The  chief  merit  of  this  building  is  its  centrally  located, 
compact  and  ample  heating  and  ventilating  apparatus.  The 
position,  size,  and  quality  of  this  breathing  apparatus  is  as 
important  in  a  building  as  are  corresponding  features  in  the 
lungs  of  an  animal.  The  central  location  is  economical  and 
gives  a  proper  balance  to  the  distribution  of  air.  The  hot 
air  pipes  rising  inside  the  large  aspirating  chimney  produce 
an  upward  current  which  draws  the  air  from  the  rooms  con- 
nected with  it  through  the  registers.  The  cold  air  passes 
in  through  the  fresh  air  duct  in  the  basement,  is  heated  by 
the  furnace,  and  rises  between   the  furnace  and  jacket  to 


423]  SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE   AND    HYGIENE  1 5 

the  pipes  leading  up  through  the  large  chimney  to  the  upper 
part  of  the  rooms.  The  exit  registers  placed  near  the  floor 
open  into  the  chimney. 

The  building  has  an  artistic  and  stable  appearance.  Built 
of  stone  or  brick,  the  estimated  cost  is  $6,600.  But  a  frame 
structure,  providing  the  same  conveniences,  could  probably 
be  built  for  $5,000. 

It  will  be  unnecessary  to  give  details  of  plans  for  a  four 
and  six-room  building.  Duplicating  the  plans  for  two  rooms 
will  give  a  good  plan  for  a  four-room  building ;  and  dupli- 
cating the  plans  for  three  rooms  will  give  an  equally  good 
one  for  a  building  of  six  rooms.  Staircases  could  easily 
be  provided  for  by  enlarging  the  halls,  and  this  without  sac- 
rificing any  of  the  essential  features. 

THE    EIGHT-ROOM    BUILDING 

In  accordance  with  the  established  grading  of  primary  and 
grammar  schools  in  this  country,  a  building  of  eight  rooms 
—  one  for  each  grade  —  is  typical  of  the  complete  unit  for 
this  class  of  school  work,  and  is  the  prevailing  type  in  the 
small  cities  and  towns  throughout  the  United  States.  For 
this  and  other  reasons  now  about  to  be  mentioned,  a  care- 
ful consideration  of  this  building  becomes  highly  important. 

The  method  for  warming  a  building  is  to  be  determined 
largely  by  the  number  of  rooms  to  be  warmed  and  by  the 
means  at  the  command  of  the  builders.  The  proposition 
to  establish  a  steam  plant  for  a  one-room  country  school 
house,  would  be  about  as  absurd  as  one  to  warm  a  seven- 
story  building  covering  a  whole  block  in  a  large  city  with 
hot  air  furnaces  in  the  basement.  Considering  the  velocity 
at  which  air  moves  through  ducts,  its  rate  of  cooling  and 
the  friction  which  it  encounters  in  reaching  its  destination, 
all  methods  of  conveying  air  have  their  proper  places  and 
their  limitations. 

In  the  growth  of  the  typical  school  house  from  a  one  to  a 
fifty-room  building,  the  stove,  the  hot  air  furnace,  the  gravi- 
tal  steam  plant  with  its  "  direct "  and  "  indirect "  radiation, 


1 6  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  [424 

and  the  forcing  fan  all  have  their  appropriate  places.  To 
ask  which  of  these  means  is  the  best  is  much  like  asking 
whether  it  is  best  for  an  animal  to  breathe  by  absorption, 
by  spiracles,  by  gills  or  by  lungs.  It  all  depends  upon  the 
building  or  upon  the  animal.  There  is  a  time  when  the 
stove  gives  way  to  the  furnace,  the  furnace  to  steam  pipes 
alone,  and  steam  pipes  alone  to  steam  pipes  supplemented 
by  mechanical  power. 

It  is  in  buildings  of  the  capacity  of  the  one  under  con- 
sideration that  the  battle  between  the  dealers  in  hot  air  fur- 
naces and  the  steam  fitters  is  usually  waged,  and  the  argu- 
ments commonly  employed  by  both  are  as  amusing  to  the 
scientist  as  they  are  distracting  to  the  average  school  director. 

It  may  here  be  said  to  the  credit  of  both  factions  that  in 
buildings  of  this  size  either  method  will  answer  the  pur- 
pose, but  the  writer  wishes  to  give  as  his  opinion  that,  in 
constructing  an  eight-room  building,  the  time  has  come  for 
the  installation  of  a  steam  plant. 

In  order  to  secure  the  proper  ventilation,  the  radiation 
should  be  in  the  main  "  indirect ; "  i.  e.,  the  steam  pipes  should 
take  the  place  in  the  fresh  air  inlet  duct  of  that  formerly 
occupied  by  the  furnace.  Experience  has  proved  that,  in 
purely  gravital  systems,  this  should  be  supplemented  with 
the  direct  radiation  of  a  few  radiators  placed  in  the  rooms 
under  the  windows.  For  a  fuller  discussion  of  the  princi- 
ples underlying  these  statements,  see  "  Warming  and  Ven- 
tilation of  School   Buildings,"  chapters   XVII  and  XVIII. 

Another  peculiarity  which  generally  prevails  in  our  eight- 
room  buildings  is  that,  situated  as  the  rooms  are  in  corners 
of  the  building,  they  are  usually  square  and  lighted  on  two 
adjacent  sides.  This  error  is  ingeniously  avoided  in  the 
fifth  ward  school  building,  Joliet,  Ills.,  shown  in  Plates  VI 
and  VII. 

By  blinding  the  windows  on  one  side  and  by  increasing 
their  number  on  the  other,  all  the  rooms  are  properly  lighted. 
By  an  equally  ingenious  and  artistic  architectural  treatment, 
the  external  appearance  is  made  strikingly  attractive.     The 


PLA  TE  I 


ONE  ROOM  COUNTRY  SCHOOl^  HOUSE 
IV ni.  P.  Appleyard and  E.  A.  Bozvd,  Architects,  Lansing,  Mich. 


Floor  Plan 


PLATE   II 


MODEL  ONE  ROOM  SCHOOL  HOUSE 
C.  Powell  Ivarr,  Architect,  New  York 


Floor  Plan 


PLATE   III 


A    TWO  ROOM  SCHOOL  HOUSE 
Warren  R.  Briggs,  Architect,  Bridgeport,  Conn. 


BOYS"  VJUU5. 


qiHLS'  YARD. 


Floor  Flan 


Basement  Flan 


FLA  TE  IV 


BOYS*  YARD 


ScMB    >H   t-i   1^  l^^^garf  Fnm. 


PLAN  SUGGESTED  FOR  AN  INEXFENSIVE  TWO  ROOM  SCHOOL  HOUSE 


PLATE   V 


A    THREE  ROOM  SCHOOL  HOUSE 
Warren  R.  Briggs,  Architect,  Bridgeport,  Conn 


Bcnrr  ykk).    [   ^irlt  tidid. 


Floor  Plan 


Basement  Plan 


PLATE   VI 


FIFTH  WARD  SCHOOL,  JOLIET,  ILL. 
F.  S.  Allen,  Architect,  Joliet,  Ills. 


•     '    -    •     -    -  „_ 


First  Floor 


Second  Floor 


PLA  TE   VII 


8c«x     'f         «        »        >f       iy        r    T^^. 

FIFTH  IVAJ^D  SCHOOL,  JOLIET,  ILL.— Basement  Plan 


PLATE  VIII 


Fig.  I 


Fig.  2 


O    t.l   t    I   t    ll 


QZo- 


SCHOOL      FtOOI-l 


BASEMENT  AND  FIRST  FLOOR  PLANS  OF  AN  EIGHT  ROOM 
PRIMARY  AND  GRAMMAR  SCHOOL  HOUSE 


William  Atkinson.,  Architect 


PLA  TE  IX 


Fig.  I 


SECOND  FLOOR  PLAN  AND  SECTIONAL  VIEW  OF  AN  EIGHT  ROOM 
PRIMARY  AND  GRAMMAR  SCHOOL  HOUSE 

William  Atkinson,  Architect 


PLATE  X 


PUBLIC  SCHOOL  BUILDING  NO.  165,   NEW  YORK  CITY 
C.  B.  J.  Snyder,  A  rchiiect.  New  York 


Basement  Flan 


PLA  TE  Xr 


■^ 


^ 


if  T^F::  A 


"^ 


fe 


a        '  g    '^  iii-ih4-iiiJ 


/•Vrj/  ^/wr  /"/rtM 
PUBUC  SCHOOL  BUILDING  NO.  163,  NEW  YORK  CITY 


FLA  TE  XII 


Fi, 


J  S  L     m     1 1     m     I . 


«PUN     CORRIDOR 


'p  -  E^p  -   [^j  -   go  -   q? 


f'Z^A"  SUGGESTED  FOR  A  LARGE  PRIMARY  AND  GRAMMAR  SCHOOL 


Fiz-  2 


PLAIT  SUGGESTED  FOR  A   SMALL  PRIMARY  AND  GRAMMAR  SCHOOL 


PLA  T£  XIII 


Fig.  I 


PUBLIC  SCHOOL  XO.  20,  X£ir  VOA'A'  CITY 
C.  B.J.  Snyder,  Architect 


Fi^.  2 


^^ 

^^ 

te  ^^^^^3^^^^^^P^ 

||r?''i'  w 

— ^^?iii5^F       v-'jinn 

^^^^H^^Y     ■                                      '1 1 "■         "5 

i?<7<y  Fla^-ground 


PLATE  XIV 


CAMBRIDGE  {MASS.)  ENGLISH  HIGH  SCHOOL 
Chamberlin  &f  Austin,  Architects 


FIRST    FLOOR  PLAN 


PLATE  XV 


SECOND   FLOOR  PLAN 


THIRD     FLOOR     PLAN 


CAMBRIDGE  {MASS.)  ENGLISH  HIGH  SCHOOL 
Chamberlin  ^  Austin,  Architects 


PLATE  XVI 


PLATE  XVII 


First  Floor 


Basement 


PLATE   XVIII 


Third  Floor 


Second  Floor 


PLATE  XIX 


h 


PLATE   XX 


MANUAL   TRAINING  HIGH  SCHOOL,  KANSAS  CITY 


FLA  TE  XX J 


MANUAL   TRALVLVG  HIGH  SCHOOL,  KANSAS  CITY 


PLATE  XXII 


CROSS  SECTIONAL  VIEW 


PLATE   XXIII 


^H.           1234         5-'        6788 

10  Akpercs. 

90 

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ab 

/ 

70 

/ 

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00 

x/ 

'B 

4Q 
30 

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C 

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-^ 

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20 

^ 

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^ 

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-^ 

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\^ 

r 

0 

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Heat 

1          4          8          16        89        36       49        C4       81 

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A      HeKT    DISTBIBITTES    UNDER  IXOOR.,  VTJrnUVTlON    ABOUE. 

B      Hzmr  DELruEREO  on  side,  vehtilhtiok  beuow.. 

c 

HsAT 

OCUUI 

cri:d  c 

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PLATE  XXIV 


Fig.  I 


c  o 


PLAN  FOR  our  DOOK  CLOSET 


425]  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  1 7 

halls  are  wide  and  well  lighted,  and  a  wardrobe  having  both 
school  room  and  hall  entrance  is  provided  for  each  room. 

The  heating  of  this  building  is  with  hot  air  indirect, 
supplemented  by  direct  steam  radiation.  The  writer  is 
informed  by  the  school  authorities  of  Joliet  that  it  is  not 
wholly  satisfactory  in  severe  weather,  and  that  in  their  newer 
buildings  they  use  both  direct  and  indirect  steam  radiation. 
In  order  to  secure  sufficient  directness  for  the  hot  air  as  well 
as  a  sufficiently  large  heating  surface,  it  was  found  necessary 
to  multiply  furnaces  and  to  widely  distribute  them  to  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  basement.  A  single  boiler  could  accomplish 
the  results  easier  and  more  economically  by  supply  steam 
for  indirect  —  supplemented  by  direct  —  radiation. 

The  advantage  of  steam  over  hot  air  in  such  a  building  is 
seen  in  cold  and  windy  weather  when  the  impossibility  for 
hot  air  to  make  its  way  against  a  strong  pressure  on  the 
windward  side  has  been  so  often  and  so  fully  demonstrated 
that  argument  is  no  longer  necessary.  Were  the  Joliet 
building  heated  and  ventilated  by  a  steam  plant  properly 
installed,  the  writer  would  not  hesitate  in  classing  it  as  a 
model  of  its  class. 

Plates  VIII  and  IX  show  floor  plans,  basement  and  sec- 
tional view  of  an  eight-room  primary  and  grammar  school 
house  which  deserve  careful  study. 

This  plan  is  the  result  of  an  attempt  of  William  Atkinson, 
architect,  to  plan  a  school  house  possessing  all  the  necessary 
architectural  and  hygenic  features  at  a  minimum  cost — "to 
reduce  the  cost  to  its  lowest  terms."  To  do  this,  Mr.  Atkin- 
son selects  what  is  known  as  the  "mill  construction"  which 
consists  of  exposed  iron  I  beams  and  timbers ;  and  inside 
walls  finished  with  faced  brick  instead  of  lath  and  plaster. 

As  to  the  economy  of  "mill  construction,"  architects  in 
general  do  not  consider  it  less  expensive  than  that  ordinarily 
employed.  The  writer's  observation  of  its  use  in  a  portion 
of  the  manual  training  high  school  of  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  is 
that  it  costs  slightly  more ;  however,  this  is  excellent  con- 
struction and  is  growing  in  favor  as  shown  by  many  recently- 


1 8  SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  [426 

built  houses  in  different  parts  of  the  country ;  it  is  strong, 
and  being  exposed  the  work  must  be  faithfully  done ;  it  is 
especially  recommended  for  laboratories  and  manual  train- 
ing workshops ;  it  is  "  slow  combustion  "  and  when  properly 
constructed  looks  well. 

But  it  is  not  so  much  "  mill  construction  "  as  other  features 
which  commend  Mr.  Atkinson's  plan  to  careful  considera- 
tion ;  its  shape  in  simple  parallelogram,  and  the  small  space 
occupied  by  halls  are  certainly  elements  of  economy.  The 
absence  of  a  central  hall  makes  it  possible  to  heat  and  ven- 
tilate the  house  by  means  of  one  large  chimney  in  the  center 
and  could  be  made  a  support  for  I  beams  if  "mill  construc- 
tion "  were  used. 

The  position  of  the  two  halls  confines  the  light  to  one 
side  of  the  school  rooms  which  are  24  ft.  in  width  and  32  ft. 
in  length.  The  five  large  windows  evenly  spaced  and  the 
proportion  of  the  rooms  makes  the  lighting  ideal. 

There  are  four  well-lighted  wardrobes  on  each  floor,  one 
for  each  room.  Although  these  wardrobes  are  not  in  con- 
junction with  the  school  rooms,  they  are  near  to  them,  and 
the  inconvenience  which  their  location  would  cause  in  dis- 
missing the  pupils  would  be  small. 

Another  objection  to  the  arrangement  of  the  rooms  is  that 
all  of  the  rooms  cannot  be  reached  from  a  common  hallway, 
making  it  necessary  to  pass  through  certain  rooms  in  reach- 
ing others.  This  is  unconventional,  but  the  objection  is  in 
reality  insignificant  when  it  is  remembered  that  in  a  graded 
grammar  school  such  passing  is  only  occasional,  and  is  chiefly 
confined  to  the  movements  of  the  principal  in  his  visits  to 
the  different  rooms ;  he  could,  when  necessary,  pass  around 
on  the  outside. 

We  have  now  reached  the  proper  place  to  consider  the 
use  of  mechanical  power  as  a  means  of  ventilation.  The 
necessity  of  this  means  in  very  large  buildings  is  no  longer 
a  subject  of  debate,  and  is  in  use  in  all  first  class  buildings 
in  our  large  cities ;  but  it  is  generally  supposed  that  to  buy 
an  engine  and  fans  for  ventilating  an  ordinary  eight-room 


427]  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  I9 

building  would  be  an  expensive  luxury.  This  is  not  only  an 
error,  but  it  may  be  safely  said  that  the  reverse  is  true  — 
that  it  is  expensive  to  do  without  engine  and  fans. 

It  is  now  generally  accepted  that  2000  cubic  feet  of  air  at 
normal  pressure  is  needed  for  each  pupil  per  hour  if  the 
requirements  of  perfect  ventilation  are  met ;  but  the  mistake 
is  commonly  made  that  this  amount  is  ever  realized  in  sys- 
tems of  gravity  ventilation  where  the  air  is  moved  by  heat- 
ing aspirating  chimneys.  It  is  not  denied  that  this  quantity 
of  air  per  pupil  can  be  moved  by  the  gravity  method ;  only 
that  it  is  not  done  in  practice. 

The  most  careful  estimates  place  the  amount  of  fuel 
necessary  for  this  purpose  as  about  one-sixth  in  excess  of 
that  required  to  supply  the  heating.  So  that  to  ventilate  a 
building  properly  by  the  gravity  method  more  than  doubles 
the  cost  of  heating  without  ventilation.  It  is  plain  that  the 
burning  of  such  large  quantities  of  coal  in  chimneys  for  the 
purpose  of  ventilation  is  expensive  and  —  in  view  of  a  better 
way  —  wasteful. 

Without  burdening  the  reader  with  deduction  formulas, 
it  may  be  reliably  asserted  that  every  pupil  in  school  may 
be  supplied  for  a  whole  school  year  with  2000  cubic  feet  of 
air  per  hour  at  a  power  cost  of  less  than  one  cent  per  capita. 
As  this  statement  will  be  reluctantly  accepted  by  many  who 
are  unfamiliar  with  such  matters,  a  few  words  of  explanation 
will  not  be  out  of  place. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  in  securing  this  result  the 
exhaust  steam  is  not  wasted  but  is  admitted  directly  into  the 
radiators  and  utilized  for  heating  the  building.  The  engine 
simply  converts  enough  of  the  steam  as  it  passes  through 
into  mechanical  power  to  run  the  fans.  The  drop  in  the 
temperature  of  the  steam  which  this  change  causes  is  very 
small,  so  small  indeed  that  it  might  almost  be  neglected,  and 
it  is  this  drop  which  supplies  the  entire  expenditure  for 
ventilation. 

In  the  complete  combustion  of  a  single  pound  of  average 
bituminous  coal,  there  is  liberated  13000  heat  units;  multi- 


io  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  [428 

plying  this  by  the  mechanical  equivalent,  872,  we  get 
10036000 — the  number  of  foot  pounds  of  actual  work  of 
which  one  pound  of  coal  is  capable  when  the  transformation 
takes  place  without  loss ;  and  this  is  precisely  the  case  when 
a  fan  is  run  by  an  engine  and  the  exhaust  steam  used  for 
heating  the  building. 

It  will  be  interesting  to  note  that  this  work,  10036000 
foot  pounds,  when  divided  by  33000,  the  horse  power  per 
minute,  gives  304  plus  as  the  number  of  minutes  one  pound 
of  coal  will  supply  a  horse  power  of  work.  One  horse 
power  is  the  work  necessary  to  ventilate  an  average  class 
room.  We  see  then  that  one  average  sized  school  room  can 
by  this  means  be  amply  ventilated  for  five  hours  with  only 
one  pound  of  coal.  At  $4  per  ton,  this  would  cost  one-fifth 
of  a  cent ! 

To  move  air  at  the  same  rate  by  burning  coal  in  a  venti- 
lating chimney  it  would  require  for  the  same  time  an  average 
of  100  pounds  of  coal;  thus  the  cost  of  mechanical  ventila- 
tion is  only  i  per  cent  of  that  equally  well  done  by  gravity. 
To  ventilate  an  eight-room  building  by  mechanical  means 
would  require  an  eight  horse-power  engine  and  two  three- 
foot  fans.     The  cost  of  an  installment  would  not  exceed 

$350. 

Twenty-one  pounds  per  hour  is  the  quantity  of  coal  which 
careful  estimates  place  as  necessary  to  ventilate  a  school 
room  containing  60  pupils.  Now  counting  seven  the 
number  of  fire  months,  20  the  number  of  days  to  the 
month,  eight  as  the  number  of  hours  per  day  in  which  fire 
will  be  needed,  $4  the  price  of  a  ton  of  coal,  the  cost  of  ven- 
tilating a  building  of  eight  rooms  would  be 

7x20x8x8x21x4  ^  $376.32. 
2000 

Any  less  expense  would  imply  that  the  ventilation  is  imper- 
fect and  short  of  that  which  would  be  supplied  by  engine- 
driven  fans.  Thus,  a  power  plant  would  pay  for  itself  in 
one  year  in  the  saving  of  coal  alone. 

But  there  are  other  compensations  incident  to  this  system 


429]  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  21 

in  the  installation.  It  should  be  remembered  that  all  ducts, 
both  for  fresh  and  for  foul  air,  need  to  be  only  half  the  size 
of  those  for  gravity  ventilation;  this  is  because  of  a  corre- 
sponding difference  in  the  velocity  of  the  air  in  the  two 
systems. 

Again,  the  indirect  radiating  surface  is  at  least  one-third 
less,  due  to  the  higher  steam  pressure  which  may  be  carried 
to  supply  the  drop  in  temperature  which  takes  place  on 
radiator  surfaces  when  strong  currents  are  passed  over 
them. 

Taking,  then,  the  great  daily  saving  in  coal  consumption, 
the  trifling  extra  expense  of  first  installation,  and  the  cer- 
tainty of  the  action  and  efficiency  of  the  mechanical  method, 
what  remains  to  be  said  ?  Simply  that  in  buildings  of  eight 
rooms  and  upwards,  mechanical  ventilation  should  take  the 
place  of  gravital.  Whether  we  consider  the  matter  from  an 
hygienic,  economic  or  mechanical  basis,  this  conclusion  is 
inevitable  —  a  conclusion  which  has  been  amply  verified  by 
the  writer  in  the  Kansas  City  manual  training  high  school 
during  the  past  two  years  (Sept.,  1897,  to  May,  1899),  and 
to  which  fuller  reference  is  made  in  subsequent  pages. 

THE    LARGE    CITY    WARD    AND    GRAMMAR    SCHOOL 

As  cities  grow  in  population  and  as  the  price  of  ground 
increases  until  in  extreme  cases  it  becomes  necessary  to  mass 
together  2000  to  3000  children  under  one  roof,  the  problem 
of  meeting  all  hygienic  and  mechanical  conditions  becomes 
serious  and  difficult.  It  is  here  that  the  factor  of  economy 
must  in  the  main  yield  to  necessity,  and  the  enormous  expen- 
diture of  money  is  one  of  the  inevitable  means  of  solution. 

The  only  standpoints  from  which  the  discussion  of  econ- 
omy has  any  justification  in  these  gigantic  structures  is  in 
the  question  of  height  and  in  that  of  architectural  treatment 
for  aesthetic  purposes.  And  even  this  is  scarcely  allowable 
in  great  cities  where  the  class  of  construction  is  practically 
forced  by  the  surroundings  and  where  a  certain  measure  of 
beauty  is  demanded  by  the  artistic  spirit  prevailing  in  met- 


22  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  [43© 

ropolitan  "air."  Notwithstanding  that  the  cost  per  school 
room  decreases  with  the  number  of  stories,  it  requires  with 
the  best  management  about  $5,000  per  room  to  construct  a 
building  five  stories  in  height  in  the  city  of  New  York. 
This  is  five  times  as  much  as  would  be  required  to  secure 
conditions  equally  hygienic  in  the  country,  where  the  absence 
of  plumbing  and  mechanical  ventilation  is  compensated  for 
in  the  unlimited  playgrounds  and  free  country  air. 

As  to  architectural  effect,  the  writer  believes  that,  consid- 
ering the  educational  value  of  attractive  surroundings  and 
the  relatively  small  cost  of  securing  them  when  artistic  skill 
is  exercised,  a  due  regard  should  be  paid  to  the  appearance 
of  our  school  buildings. 

When  the  architectural  treatment  is  undertaken  in  a  true 
artistic  spirit  —  a  spirit  which  makes  art  conform  to  utility 
instead  of  sacrificing  it  —  the  additional  expense  is  well 
invested.  It  must,  however,  be  confessed  that  there  has 
been  much  useless  expenditure  in  an  attempt  at  meaningless 
ornamentation,  resulting  in  a  ridiculous  exhibition  of  cheap 
filigree  and  hodge  podge,  devoid  not  only  of  the  first  ele- 
ments of  beauty,  but  often  sacrificing  utility  and  convenience. 

The  two  extremes  of  expense  in  building  a  school  house 
are  found  in  the  "factory"  type,  consisting  simply  of  walls, 
windows  and  roof,  without  ornamentation  of  any  kind ;  and 
in  the  "hospital"  type,  which  comprises  not  only  all  modern 
improvements  in  sanitary  plumbing,  heating  and  ventilation, 
but  architectural  effect  as  well.  When  properly  done,  a  suf- 
ficient architectural  treatment  can  be  given  to  a  building 
with  a  moderate  additional  cost. 

The  following  from  Mr.  Edmon  M.  Wheelwright,  city 
architect,  Boston,  Mass.,  who  has  recently  contributed  to  the 
"  Brickbuilder"  a  most  valuable  series  of  articles  on  "The 
American  school  house,"  is  so  well  said  and  so  much  to  the 
point  that  the  writer  takes  pleasure  in  quoting  it : 

"In  designing  a  school  house,  the  architect  should  strive 
to  produce  not  an  English  college  building,  a  French 
chateau,   or  a  '  Romanesque '  library,   but  a  school   house. 


43 1]  SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  2$ 

The  practical  requirements  of  the  problem  demand  in  most 
cases  symmetry  of  plan,  and  in  all  cases  lighting  of  the 
school  rooms  by  wide  and  high  windows.  It  is  requisite 
that  these  windows  should  not  have  transom  bars,  and  that 
either  a  flat  roof  or  one  of  low  pitch  should  be  used.  A 
high,  well-lighted  basement  is  also  a  requisite  of  a  school 
house.  The  important  rooms  in  the  basement  need  ample 
windows,  and  a  stud  of  ten  feet  is  none  too  high  for  the 
proper  installation  of  the  heating  apparatus.  These  require- 
ments for  the  basement  affect  school  house  designing  most 
radically. 

"  Such  being  the  general  requirements  which  most  influ- 
ence the  general  expression  of  our  school  houses,  it  will  be 
found  difficult  to  reconcile  therewith  features  borrowed  from 
the  late  English  Gothic  and  the  early  English  renaissance. 

"  Aside  from  economy  in  planning,  which  certainly  leads 
to  a  balanced  arrangement  of  rooms,  the  key  to  the  external 
expression  of  a  school  house  is  the  size  and  distribution  and 
form  of  windows  which  experience  has  shown  to  be  best 
adapted  for  the  needs  of  a  school  room.  This  consideration 
of  window  treatment  alone  leads  the  architect  who  appreci- 
ates the  economic  and  practical  requirements  of  the  problem 
to  abandon  picturesque  treatments  in  a  school  house  design 
and  to  adopt  those  suggested  by  the  brick  architecture  of 
the  Italian  renaissance  and  by  the  Georgian  work  of  Eng- 
land and  this  country.  Sufficiently  varied  motives  for  the 
external  expression  of  our  school  house  plans  can  be  found 
in  these  styles. 

"*  *  *  The  architect  to  whom  the  designing  of  a 
school  house  is  entrusted  should  accept  the  limitations 
imposed  by  the  practical  conditions  of  the  problem.  He 
should  not  seek  to  be  *  original '  or  to  gain  the  semblance  of 
a  structure,  however  beautiful  in  its  own  time  and  for  its 
own  needs,  which  does  not  meet  the  requirements  of  an 
American  school  house." 

Mr.  Wheelwright  concludes  that  "  under  ordinary  condi- 
tions, satisfactory  architectural  results  may  be  obtained  at  an 


24  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  [432 

access  of  cost  of  not  more  than  5  per  cent  above  that  of  the 
most  *  practical '  construction." 

Public  school  buildings  No.  165  (Plate  X),  and  No.  20 
(Plate  XIII)  are  given  as  types  of  large  city  buildings,  not 
because  they  are  considered  perfect  models  of  architecture 
and  construction  for  buildings  of  their  class,  but  because 
they  are  excellent  buildings  and  have  been  erected  under 
the  most  trying  and  extreme  conditions  in  the  crowded  parts 
of  America's  largest  city. 

These  buildings  are  heated  by  steam  radiation  and  ven- 
tilated by  engine-driven  fans  located  in  the  basement. 

A  mechanical  error  has  been  conformed  to  in  having  sepa- 
rate engines  for  the  different  fans  instead  of  deriving  all  the 
power  from  a  single  unit  and  distributing  it  to  the  fans  by 
electric  motors.  A  50  h.  p.  engine  with  direct  connected 
dynamo  of  40  k.  w.  capacity  and  two  1 5  h.  p.  motors  would 
be  more  efficient,  more  easily  kept  in  repair,  and  more  up  to 
date  than  the  old  method  of  furnishing  an  engine  to  each 
fan. 

It  would  also  have  been  better  to  have  divided  the 
mechanical  movement  of  the  air  between  the  plenum  and  the 
exhaust  methods.  The  vacuum-forming  tendency  given  by 
an  exhaust  fan  is  always  effective  and  greatly  assists  the 
incoming  air  making  its  way  against  friction.  And  in  cases 
when  the  room  becomes  too  warm  and  the  fresh  air  is  tem- 
porarily closed  off,  the  exhaust  fan  acts  like  a  fireplace  and 
can  always  be  depended  upon.  The  power  required  in  the 
two  methods  is  about  the  same. 

In  these  New  York  schools,  the  air  supply  is  estimated  to 
be  1800  cubic  feet  per  hour  for  each  pupil. 

In  planning  very  large  buildings,  two  distinct  types  are 
employed,  known  respectively  as  the  open  court  type  and 
the  letter  H  type.  As  to  which  it  is  better  to  choose, 
depends  on  the  size,  shape,  and  location  of  the  building  lot. 

The  New  York  school.  No.  165,  is  a  good  example  of  H 
type,  which  is  for  the  majority  of  cases  the  better  for 
crowded  localities.     In  these  districts,  it  is  necessary  to  build 


433]  SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE   AND   HYGIENE  2$ 

close  Up  to  the  party  line ;  this  plan  as  seen  in  the  present 
building  makes  it  possible  to  build  a  solid  blank  wall  on  the 
party  line  with  the  windows  all  facing  the  open  court  which 
may  be  beautified,  and  the  view  is  unobstructed  by  unsightly 
shops,  smoky  chimneys,  and  tenement  houses. 

The  external  treatment  of  building  No.  165  shows  an 
attempt  to  conform  to  the  Gothic  type  of  architecture. 
While  utility  has  not,  in  this  instance,  been  wholly  sacrificed, 
and  making  due  allowance  for  differences  in  taste,  the  writer 
is  of  the  opinion  that  the  high  pitched  roof,  the  pinnacles, 
and  the  pointed  dormers  are  not  the  most  appropriate  form 
of  decoration.  The  architect,  Mr.  C.  B.  J.  Snyder,  justifies 
the  space  occupied  by  the  roof  by  using  it  for  a  gymnasium 
and  for  vent  flues. 

The  building  laws  of  New  York  require  such  a  great 
thickness  of  wall  in  high  buildings  that  much  valuable  space 
is  gained  in  buildings  over  four  stories  in  height  by  using 
the  steel  skeleton  type  used  in  the  large  office  buildings ; 
this  makes  it  possible  to  reduce  the  thickness  of  the  first 
story  walls  from  36  inches  to  16  inches. 

The  introduction  of  manual  training  into  the  schools  of 
the  United  States  has  been  met  in  school  house  building  by 
placing  it  in  different  parts  of  the  house,  from  the  basement 
to  the  attic.  In  building  No.  165,  the  whole  fifth  floor  is 
given  over  to  manual  and  physical  training  and  a  gymnasium. 

As  manual  training  in  grammar  grades  is  still  in  a  transi- 
tory and  unsettled  state,  the  provisions  for  it  in  school  house 
building  are  as  various  and  imperfect  as  is  the  knowledge 
concerning  its  place,  amount,  and  nature  in  the  course  of 
study.  In  high  schools,  certain  requirements  and  methods 
have  become  established  making  more  clearly  definite  the 
functions  of  the  buildings,  as  is  pointed  out  further  on. 

There  is  a  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  necessity  of  an 
auditorium  in  a  grammar  school.  In  New  York  city,  a 
demand  for  an  audience  room  and  a  regard  for  economy  are 
two  conflicting  ideas  which  seem  to  have  met  and  com- 
promised as  shown  in  building  No.  165  in  sliding  door  par- 


26  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  [434 

titions  between  all  the  rooms  on  the  second  floor  of  the 
central  pavilion.  An  auditorium  or  general  assembly  hall 
in  a  primary  and  grammar  school  is  of  doubtful  utility  so  far 
as  the  management  of  the  school  is  concerned. 

The  lighting  of  building  No.  165  is  generally  to  be  com- 
mended. All  the  rooms  except  those  in  the  ends  of  the 
outside  pavilions  are  lighted  on  one  side  only,  by  three  very 
wide  mullioned  windows  occupying  nearly  the  whole  inside 
wall  space.  It  may  be  said  of  the  end  windows  that  they 
are  objectionable  if  the  rooms  are  to  be  used  for  ordinary 
class  purposes.  By  using  these  ends  for  wardrobes,  the 
windows  would  not  interfere  with  the  requirements  of 
hygienic  lighting  and  might  still  be  left  to  furnish  a  justifi- 
cation for  the  pretty  Gothic  window  at  the  top. 

A  difference  of  opinion  prevails  among  the  leading  archi- 
tects of  this  country  as  to  the  form  and  position  of  win- 
dows. Mr.  Wheelwright  objects  to  the  use  of  mullions  and 
transom  bars,  while  Mr.  Snyder  in  his  best  New  York  build- 
ings makes  free  use  of  both.  The  objection  to  mullions  is 
based  on  the  uneven  distribution  of  light  which  is  incident 
to  unequal  spacing.  This,  however,  depends  on  the  con- 
ditions in  each  instance.  There  appears  to  be  no  objection 
to  mullions  as  used  in  the  central  pavilion  of  building  No. 
165  where  the  rooms  are  lighted  on  one  of  the  shorter  sides 
and  the  windows,  whose  frames  are  1 7  ft.  in  width  and  1 1  ft. 
in  height,  occupy  nearly  the  whole  of  the  available  wall 
space ;  but  in  rooms  lighted  as  they  should  be  on  one  of  the 
longer  sides  better  results  can  be  attained  by  plain  windows 
evenly  spaced  than  by  any  use  of  mullions.  The  use  of 
them,  then,  in  school  house  building  should  be  limited  to 
those  exceptional  cases  which  require  practically  the  conver- 
sion of  one  side  of  a  room  into  a  single,  unbroken  source 
of  light. 

The  use  of  transom  bars,  however,  cannot  be  defended, 
for  they  are  obstructions  to  light  and  are  certainly  not  justi- 
fied if  their  only  purpose  is  conformity  to  ancient  ideals 
which  had  purposes  of  their  own  quite  different  from  those 


435]  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  2/ 

demanded  in  a  school  house.  The  highest  art  will  give  a 
pleasing  expression  to  the  highest  utility. 

In  determining  the  ideal  length  for  a  school  room,  the  two 
main  considerations  are  the  distance  which  an  ordinary  con- 
versational tone  of  voice  will  carry,  and  the  distance  at 
which  ordinary  blackboard  writing  can  be  seen.  This  dis- 
tance may  be  taken,  with  liberal  variations  to  meet  particu- 
lar cases,  to  be  about  32  feet. 

The  width  will  depend  on  the  height  of  the  windows.  If 
the  German  standard  of  requiring  the  width  to  be  not 
greater  than  twice  the  clear  height  be  accepted,  then  the 
width  of  the  rooms  in  building  No.  165  might  be  28  ft.  6  in., 
as  the  height  is  14  ft.  4  in.  A  room  28x32  ft.  will  comfort- 
ably seat  singly  56  pupils.  This  is  as  many  as  any  teacher 
should  be  called  upon  to  manage  in  one  room. 

In  determining  the  size  of  classes,  there  is  somewhere  a 
proper  balance  between  the  economic  and  the  pedagogical 
phases  of  the  question.  As  the  child  is  the  all-important 
factor,  it  would  seem  that  the  maximum  number  of  pupils 
which  can  be  admitted  to  one  room  without  sacrificing  their 
health  or  individuality  should  be  first  determined  and  then 
make  the  school  house  conform  to  the  requirements.  As 
the  limits  of  safety  are  not  confined  within  fixed,  hard  and 
fast  lines,  the  writer  believes  that  the  limits  of  hygienic 
teaching  can  be  found  in  a  room  varying  between  22  to  28 
feet  in  width  and  30  to  36  feet  in  length,  accommodating 
respectively  40  to  60  pupils  according  to  conditions. 

The  mistake  in  school  house  building  has  been  in  making 
rooms  too  large  instead  of  too  small  as  is  sometimes  charged. 
The  answer  of  Superintendent  Philbrick  of  Boston,  Mass., 
to  this  charge  when  made  some  years  ago  against  the  size  of 
the  rooms  in  the  English  high  school  of  Boston  which  was 
planned  by  him  is  worth  repeating:  "It  has  been  said  that 
the  rooms  are  not  large  enough.  One  might  as  well  say 
that  a  bushel  measure  is  not  as  large  as  it  should  be.  The 
rooms  are  as  large  as  they  need  be  for  the  objects  in  view 
in  planning  them." 


28  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  [436 

In  planning  a  school  house  the  number,  size  and  position 
of  the  rooms  should  first  be  determined  and  the  architecture 
adapted  to  the  requirements  can  then  be  selected.  But  the 
architect  too  often  first  decides  upon  the  outside  appearance 
and  then  makes  the  interior  arrangements  to  fill  the  spaces; 
this  frequently  results  in  rooms  of  various  shape  and  size 
not  well  adapted  to  the  purposes  for  which  they  were 
intended. 

One  of  the  most  important  matters  in  large  primary  and 
grammar  schools  is  the  number  and  location  of  the  ward- 
robes. The  provision  for  these  in  building  No.  165  are  not 
satisfactory.  For  purposes  of  order  and  convenience  in 
handling  large  numbers  of  small  children  there  should  be 
one  of  these  cloak  rooms  provided  for  each  school  room. 
In  the  building  under  consideration  there  seems  to  be  no 
provision  for  these  rooms  in  the  central  pavilion,  and  those 
in  the  outside  pavilion  are  not  lighted.  This  defect  could 
have  been  corrected  by  placing  windows  in  the  blank  wall 
on  the  property  line.  Such  windows,  notwithstanding  their 
proximity  to  neighboring  walls,  would,  if  ground  glass  were 
used,  serve  a  purpose  in  lighting  these  cloak  rooms  without 
opening  a  view  to  objectionable  neighborhoods. 

A  provision  for  an  amply  lighted  cloak  room  for  each 
school  room  is  shown  in  fig.  i,  Plate  XII,  which  the  writer 
suggests  as  an  H  plan  for  a  large  primary  and  grammar 
school  house.  In  this  plan  it  is  assumed  that  the  building 
occupies  one-half  a  block  having  streets  on  three  sides  and 
an  alley  on  the  other.  In  many  available  sites  this  condi- 
tion can  be  secured  ;  but  in  cases  like  that  of  the  New  York 
building  the  position  of  the  corridors  and  school  rooms  in 
the  outside  pavilions  could  be  reversed  without  organic 
change  in  the  design.  In  this  plan  the  following  features 
are  secured :  i.  Ample  shelter  for  2000  to  4000  pupils, 
according  to  the  number  of  stories ;  2.  Rooms  24x32 
ft,  the  proper  proportion ;  3.  Ventilation  by  combination 
of  plenum  and  vacuum  movements  as  shown  by  the  num- 
ber and  position  of  flues ;  4.    Four  large  windows  in  one 


437]  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  29 

side  provide  ample  light  for  the  school  rooms  if  the  clear 
height  is  not  less  than  13  feet;  5.  A  well-lighted  cloak 
room  opening  into  each  room  and  into  the  corridor,  which 
serves  ideal  convenience  in  dismissing  the  pupils. 

This  plan  does  not  preclude  the  use  of  the  space  here 
shown  from  being  occupied  by  school  rooms  for  other  pur- 
poses which  local  conditions  might  require,  such  as  offices, 
reception  rooms,  water  closets,  play  rooms,  etc.  The  plan 
is  intended  to  suggest  a  way  to  secure  the  above-named 
features  for  every  school  room,  and  the  arrangement  would 
conserve  equally  well  the  lighting,  warming  and  ventilating 
requirements  for  whatever  use  the  space  might  be  employed. 

The  position  of  the  cloak  rooms  at  the  ends  of  the  out- 
side pavilions  while  unconventional,  serves  to  preserve  the 
intent  as  to  side  lighting,  while  it  does  not  preclude  any 
outside  window  arrangement  which  architectural  treatment 
would  necessarily  require.  Fig.  2  illustrates  the  idea  when 
applied  to  a  smaller  building. 

With  the  limited  opportunities  in  the  densely  populated 
districts  of  our  large  cities  for  exercise  in  the  open  air,  the 
question  of  play  grounds  becomes  important.  In  building 
No.  165,  the  open  courts  between  the  outside  pavilions  not 
being  sufficient,  the  whole  first  floor  is  given  over  to  this 
purpose.  This  is  unnecessarily  expensive.  The  prejudice 
in  New  York  city  against  any  use  of  the  basement  except 
for  the  heating  and  ventilating  apparatus  should  give  way 
before  the  light  of  modern  methods  for  the  sanitary  regula- 
tions of  basements.  A  properly  constructed  basement  with 
half-height  top  windows  and  properly  supplied  with  fresh, 
warm  air  is  as  wholesome  as  any  room  in  the  building. 

It  is  especially  important  in  providing  for  a  system  of 
ventilation  to  carry  the  air  from  an  elevated  and  pure  source 
instead  of  taking  it  from  back  alleys  and  beneath  porches 
and  door  steps  as  is  too  frequently  the  case. 

The  use  of  the  roof  for  play  grounds  is  a  good  solution 
of  the  problem.  Public  school  No.  20,  New  York  city, 
Plate  XIII,  is  a  good  example  of  this  use  of  the  roof.     The 


30  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  [438 

air  at  this  height  is  generally  pure  and  the  sunlight  is  unob- 
structed. By  thus  utilizing  the  roof  and  dispensing  with 
the  waste  space  of  a  high  attic  under  it,  this  scheme  is  advis- 
able from  an  economic  as  well  as  from  an  hygienic  standpoint. 

THE    HIGH    SCHOOL    BUILDING 

A  study  of  the  high  school  buildings  of  this  country 
reveals  perhaps  more  than  do  buildings  of  any  other  class 
the  progress  not  only  in  school  architecture  but  in  pedagogi- 
cal methods  as  well.  From  the  first  conception  of  secon- 
dary education  which  consisted  of  adding  four  more  to  the 
eight  primary  and  grammar  grades,  the  high  schools  have 
developed  a  system  of  specialized  work  which  is  expressed 
in  a  building  planned  and  equipped  to  meet  the  many  and 
diverse  requirements. 

The  first  high  school  building  which  marked  distinctively 
an  epoch  in  school  house  architecture  in  this  country  was 
the  Latin  and  English  high  school  of  Boston,  Mass.,  which 
was  begun  in  1877.  This  house  was  planned  by  Mr.  J  no. 
D.  Philbrick,  then  city  superintendent  of  the  Boston  schools, 
and  Mr.  Clough,  the  city  architect.  The  plan  was  inspired 
chiefly  by  Mr.  Philbrick  after  a  study  of  the  celebrated 
building  in  Vienna  —  the  Academische  Gymnasium  —  which 
is  probably  the  best  school  building  in  the  world. 

The  building  is  a  pure  type  of  the  court  plan  and  covers 
a  block  of  ground  423  feet  in  length  by  220  feet  in  width. 
The  rooms  and  corridors  are  arranged  in  parallelogram  form 
around  a  central  court  which  admits  light  and  provides  a 
playground.  The  lighting  for  the  school  rooms  is  taken 
principally  from  the  street  sides. 

This  building  marks  several  interesting  transitions  in 
methods  and  ideals  of  education,  one  of  which  is  shown  in 
the  large  military  drill  rooms,  30x62  ft.,  a  reflection  of  the 
militant  type  of  European  education.  Another  is  the 
amphitheatre  style  of  "lecture"  room  for  the  teaching  of 
science  instead  of  the  working  laboratory  method  now  in 
vogue  in  the  best  schools.     True,  this  building  contains  a 


439]  SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE   AND    HYGIENE  3 1 

working  laboratory,  but  the  dominant  feature  in  the  science 
work  of  that  time  is  seen  in  the  care  and  expense  lavished 
on  the  lecture  rooms.  The  building  reveals  a  curious  inter- 
mingling of  the  ordinary  graded  high  school,  a  military 
academy,  and  a  college  of  the  conventional  type. 

But  it  is  not  for  the  purpose  of  calling  attention  to  its 
faults  that  this  building  is  here  referred  to ;  in  many  impor- 
tant particulars  it  may  stand  as  a  model  of  the  best  that 
has  yet  been  realized.  In  the  mattter  of  size,  form,  loca- 
tion, and  lighting  of  its  48  school  rooms  it  undoubtedly 
stands  at  the  head  of  American  school  houses.  Other 
houses  with  more  modern  characteristics  have  in  these 
important  features  not  preserved  the  perfect  model  which 
this  building  furnished.  These  class  rooms  are  of  the  ideal 
size  and  shape,  24x32x14  ft.,  and  lighted  by  four  windows, 
9  ft.  6  in.  X  4  ft.  6  in.,  placed  on  one  of  longer  sides  six 
inches  from  the  ceiling  and  four  feet  from  the  floor.  They 
will  accommodate  from  35  to  40  high  school  pupils  seated  at 
single  desks. 

Another  excellent  feature  of  this  building  is  the  arrange- 
ment of  water  closets,  which  occupy  positions  in  wings  from 
the  stairways,  there  being  two  stories  of  them  for  each  floor, 
one  of  the  stories  being  entered  at  the  half-way  landings 
between  the  floors. 

The  building  is  not  sufficiently  ventilated,  there  being 
allowed  but  800  cubic  feet  per  hour  for  each  pupil,  instead 
of  2000  cubic  feet  which  is  now  considered  necessary.  There 
also  seems  to  be  little  or  no  provision  made  for  the  care  of 
the  pupils'  wraps,  except  some  low  box-like  closets  under  the 
windows,  which  proved  entirely  unsatisfactory. 

The  building  was  intended  to  be  fire-proof,  the  corridors 
being  constructed  with  iron  beams  and  brick  arches  plastered 
upon  the  bricks ;  the  floors  are  of  black  marble ;  and  the 
staircases  built  of  iron. 

The  main  idea  which  dominated  the  minds  of  the  design- 
ers of  this  building  should  not  be  lost  sight  of :  that  the 
real  width  of  any  organic  part  of  the  house  should  be  the 


32  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  [44O 

width  of  one  school  room  plus  the  width  of  the  parallel  cor- 
ridor. Whether  the  construction  be  on  the  court  or  the  H 
plan,  this  principle  is  sound,  and  should  be  rigidly  adhered 
to  in  planning  a  very  large  school  house. 

One  of  the  essential  features  of  a  high-school  house  as  it 
differentiates  from  one  built  for  grammar  school  purposes  is 
the  assembly  hall,  which  in  America  is  simpy  a  large  school 
room  intended  for  general  purposes  of  classification,  and 
the  assembling  of  the  school  as  a  whole  for  general  instruc- 
tion, announcements,  opening  exercises,  musical  entertain- 
ments, lectures,  etc.  It  is  not  an  imitation  of  the  German 
Aula,  which  is  largely  for  general  public  purposes,  and  is 
usually  richly  ornamented  with  costly  architectural  treat- 
ment. The  American  high  school  assembly  hall  is  strictly 
for  utilitarian  purposes,  and  not  "  to  represent  the  dignity  of 
the  state."  In  the  Boston  school  there  are  two  assembly 
rooms,  both  on  the  third  floor  in  the  central  pavilion,  each 
capable  of  seating  800  persons.  The  purposes  of  the  school 
would  have  been  better  served  had  these  halls  been  united 
into  a  single  room  capable  of  seating  the  whole  school.  But 
here  again  the  building  represents  another  transition  in  high 
school  development,  that  of  separating  the  "  classical "  and 
mathematical  from  the  English  and  science  branches ; 
indeed,  the  block  is  divided  into  halves,  one  for  the  former 
and  the  other  for  the  latter  branches.  These  two  assembly 
rooms  were  probably  intended  for  the  two  schools. 

The  Cambridge  English  high  school  (Plates  XIV  and  XV) 
may  be  taken  to  illustrate  the  next  important  step  in  the 
development  of  secondary  education  in  this  country.  The 
recognition  of  natural  science  to  a  place  in  the  curriculum 
came  slowly,  and  the  pursuit  of  it  by  the  working  laboratory 
method  came  still  more  slowly.  In  this  building,  ample  pro- 
visions have  been  made  for  physical  and  chemical  labora- 
tories in  two  of  the  large  corner  rooms  on  the  second  and 
third  floors. 

These  laboratories  are  well  equipped  with  demonstration 
tables,  chairs  with  writing-arm  attachments,  working  desks 


44 1 ]  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  33 

plumbed  for  water  and  gas,  shelves  for  reagents,  and  gas 
hoods  in  the  chemical  laboratory  for  the  removal  of  noxious 
gases. 

The  building  represents  what  may  be  called  the  physical 
science  stage  in  high  school  development  where  physics  and 
chemistry  have  secured  their  rights,  but  where  the  biological 
sciences  —  botany,  zoology,  and  physiology  —  are  still  in  the 
show  cabinet  stage,  no  provision  being  made  for  working 
laboratories  for  them. 

The  building  is  constructed  on  the  H  plan  with  the  end 
pavilions  short.  The  corner  rooms  are  well  adapted  for  the 
laboratories  and  drawing  rooms,  which  need  an  abundance 
of  light  and  in  which  light  from  more  than  one  side  is  not 
an  objection. 

Six  of  the  corner  rooms  are  used  for  class  rooms  —  a  use 
which  does  not  show  an  ideal  adaptation,  as  they  are  40X 
28  ft.,  which  is  too  large  for  the  purposes  of  instruction  ;  it 
is  presumed,  however,  that  they  are  used  to  accommodate 
pupils  who  are  studying  as  well  as  those  who  are  reciting. 

A  more  recent  and  a  better  method  of  providing  for  the 
study  periods  of  the  pupils  is  the  seating  of  them  in  rooms 
or  **  study  halls  "  planned  for  that  purpose.  In  modern  high 
schools,  the  pupils  change  places  every  period  as  is  the  cus- 
tom in  colleges.  These  corner  class  rooms  in  the  Cambridge 
building  are  too  large  for  class  rooms  and  smaller  than  they 
should  be  for  study  rooms  as  a  teacher  can  easily  manage 
from  100  to  150  pupils  in  the  study  hall ;  they  serve  to  rep- 
resent that  phase  in  school  house  building  before  the  func- 
tion of  a  room  for  recitation  and  for  study  purposes  became 
differentiated. 

The  large  assembly  hall  and  the  drawing  room  on  the 
third  floor  are  well  adapted  to  their  uses,  and  the  large  room 
in  the  center  pavilion  on  the  second  floor  called  the  "  senior 
class  room  "  would  make  an  ideal  freehand  drawing  and  art 
room. 

The  number  and  position  of  the  wardrobes  ("coat 
rooms ")  is  ideal  from  the  grammar  school  standpoint ;  in 


34  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  [442 

high  schools,  however,  of  more  recent  construction,  these 
rooms  have  been  left  out,  and  the  wraps  of  the  pupils  dis- 
posed of  in  individual  lockers  placed  in  large  rooms  in  the 
basement  set  apart  for  that  purpose.  This  differentiation 
from  the  grammar  school  plan,  besides  being  economical, 
presupposes  that  the  age  of  high  school  pupils  puts  them 
beyond  the  necessity  of  individual  espionage  while  being 
dismissed. 

But  the  most  distinguishing  characteristic  of  the  Cam- 
bridge building  is  its  external  appearance,  it  being  the  first 
building  in  which  a  rational  and  artistic  treatment  and  utility 
were  happily  combined.  When  visiting  this  building  in  1 896, 
while  making  an  extended  tour  of  school  house  inspection, 
the  writer  was  impressed  with  the  simple,  strong,  artistic 
elegance  of  its  architecture.  It  is  well  proportioned,  its 
parts  well  unified  without  any  attempt  to  obscure  the  uses 
for  which  it  was  intended  ;  and  it  is  free  from  fussy,  mean- 
ingless ornamentation.  It  stands  for  what  it  is  —  a  beauti- 
ful school  house.  By  referring  to  Plate  XIX  it  will  readily 
be  observed  that  these  characteristics  are  reflected  by  the 
manual  training  high  school,  Kansas   City,  Mo.,  started   in 

1897. 

The  Cambridge  building  was  erected  without  special 
regard  for  economy ;  it  is  fire  proof,  and  built  of  expensive 
material ;  the  basement  is  granite,  the  first  story  Amherst 
stone,  and  the  second  and  third  of  terra-cotta  brick  ;  its  cost, 
exclusive  of  ground,  was  $230000. 

While  this  building  stands  as  an  architectural  unit  from  a 
high  school  standpoint,  the  course  of  study  pursued  in  it  is 
unified  with  the  manual  training  school,  which  is  situated 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  beautiful  grounds  donated  by 
Mr.  Frederic  H.  Ringe. 

The  new  high  school  building  at  Springfield,  Mass.,  Plates 
XVI,  XVII  and  XVIII,  is  given  as  representing  the  last 
step  in  high  school  development  preceding  that  of  the 
manual  training  high  school.  It  exemplifies  not  only  what 
can  be  done  when  economy  is  not  a  restraining  factor,  but 


443]  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  35 

also  illustrates  the  prestige  at  which  secondary  education 
has  arrived  in  this  country.  From  architects  who  have 
$300000  at  their  command,  exceptional  results  are  naturally 
expected.  In  the  Springfield  building,  which  cost  some- 
what more  than  this  amount,  while  not  above  criticism,  our 
expectations  for  excellence  have  in  the  main  been  met. 

The  external  architectural  design  is  based  on  the  Italian 
renaissance,  and  while  it  lacks  the  harmony  of  proportion 
given  to  the  Cambridg'^  building,  it  is  strong,  dignified  and 
chaste.  The  foundation  walls  above  grade  are  of  pink 
granite ;  the  walls  of  the  other  stories  of  buff  brick,  and 
the  trimmings  are  of  Bedford  limestone.  Every  sixth 
course  of  brick  of  the  first  story  is  indented  ("six  cut 
work")  which  adds  variety  and  strength  to  the  general 
effect.  It  is  constructed  on  the  central  court  plan,  the  rooms 
occupying  three  of  its  sides,  r.nd  a  corridor  completing  the 
rectangle.  It  is  203  fee-  by  173  feet,  and  built  on  a  lot  400 
feet  by  270  feet. 

The  interior  is  rich  with  all  the  ornamental  detail  which 
polished  marble,  plate  glass,  bronze  trimmings  and  other 
expensive  materials  can  give.  Mechanically  it  is  a  modern, 
expensive  and  magnificent  structure. 

The  heating  is  by  indirect  radiation  supplemented  by 
direct  radiation  in  exposed  parts.  The  furnace  and  boiler 
are  installed  in  a  separate  house  outside  the  main  building. 
This  feature  is  much  to  be  commended  as  it  insures  to  all 
the  school  rooms  immunity  from  coal  dust  and  escaping 
smoke  which  are  incident  to  a  boiler  house  even  with  the 
most  careful  firing.  This  plant  has  four  horizontal  tubular 
boilers  each  125  h.  p.  capacity.  The  indirect  coils  are 
located  in  heating  chambers  near  the  four  outside  corners  of 
the  building.  The  fresh  air  is  supplied  to  these  heaters 
through  main  conduits  extending  around  the  parallelogram 
directly  under  the  corridor  of  the  first  floor.  These  con- 
duits are  very  large,  about  80  square  feet  cross  sectional 
area  insuring  an  abundance  of  fresh  air.  The  air  enters 
this  conduit  through  an  elevated  shaft  —  a  highly  commend- 
able sanitary  feature  —  by  which  a  pure  source  is  insured. 


36  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  [444 

The  plenum  movement  is  accomplished  by  three  large 
fans  located  at  convenient  distributing  points.  The  four 
exhaust  fans,  four  feet  in  diameter,  are  located  near  the  top 
of  the  four  vent  shafts.  Separate  fans  are  used  to  ventilate 
the  laboratories. 

The  heat  is  regulated  by  thermostats,  another  luxury  of 
modern  engineering.  This  is  in  reality  more  than  a  luxury 
in  a  school  house  ;  it  is  a  necessity,  for  experience  has  proved 
that  the  regulation  of  the  heat  in  school  rooms  cannot  safely 
be  entrusted  to  the  teachers,  whose  minds  are  not  only  pre- 
occupied but  whose  judgment  on  such  matters  is  not  always 
to  be  relied  upon. 

The  lighting  of  this  building,  while  in  the  main  abund- 
ant, is  not  altogether  fortunate  in  its  distribution.  The 
assembly  hall  in  the  center  of  the  court  is  lighted  from 
above  and  by  light  courts  at  the  sides.  The  school  rooms 
on  the  sides  of  the  building  are  large  —  27  feet  by  37  feet 
—  well  proportioned  and  well  lighted  by  five  windows  on 
one  of  the  longer  sides ;  but  the  eight  corner  class  rooms  on 
the  first  and  second  floors  have  the  objection  common  to 
such  rooms  used  for  this  purpose  — light  in  the  face  of  the 
teacher.  This  defect  is  not  necessarily  incident  to  the  court 
plan  of  construction,  and  has  been  happily  avoided  in  the 
Newark,  N.  J.,  high  school,  Howard  &  Cauldwell,  archi- 
tects. Although  the  advantage  of  light  on  two  or  more 
sides  for  laboratories  is  not  recognized  in  this  school. 

It  is  the  character  and  arrangement  of  the  third  floor  of 
the  Springfield  building  which  especially  commends  it  as  a 
type  of  modern  high  school  building.  Here  the  recent 
demands  of  the  physical  and  biological  sciences  are  fully 
met,  and  the  relative  importance  of  laboratory  and  lecture 
work  properly  apportioned.  The  whole  provision  on  this 
floor  comprises  seven  working  laboratories,  three  drawing 
rooms  and  one  lecture  room.  The  latter  occupies  a  central 
position  between  the  chemical  and  geological  laboratories 
on  the  one  hand  and  two  physical  laboratories  on  the  other. 
The   biological    laboratories — three    in    number  —  occupy 


445]  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  3/ 

positions  on  the  side  of  the  building  adjacent  to  the  physical 
laboratories;  and  the  drawing  rooms  are  located  on  the 
remaining  side.  The  drawing  room  on  the  corner,  with  light 
on  two  sides,  is  adapted  to  mechanical  drawing,  while  the 
long  room,  lighted  on  one  side  by  seven  windows,  is  admi- 
rably adapted  to  freehand,  perspective  and  art  work. 

A  conservatory  for  plants  and  flowers  is  situated  on  the 
third  floor  on  the  inside  of  the  corridor  extending  into  the 
court.  Above  this  is  an  astronomical  observatory  with 
revolving  copper  dome. 

But  it  is  in  the  location  and  height  of  this  observatory 
that  the  enthusiasm  of  science  has  somewhat  strained  archi- 
tectural possibilities.  While  the  dome  is  a  very  good  one 
and  looks  well  when  viewed  at  some  distance,  it  is  practically 
useless  for  astronomical  purposes  except  for  amateur  work 
of  the  crudest  kind.  Although  "  it  rests  upon  a  steel  column 
directly  connected  with  one  of  the  foundation  walls,"  vibra- 
tions are  certain  to  occur  on  account  of  its  height  and  its 
connection  with  the  roof  of  the  building.  The  writer  speaks 
from  experience  with  a  telescope  similarly  located  in  a  dome 
above  the  third  floor  of  the  Kansas  City  central  high  school. 

In  the  disposition  of  the  pupils'  wraps,  the  grammar  school 
characteristic  has  been  retained.  Wardrobes  are  located  in 
a  quarter  without  light  between  the  corridors  and  the  school 
rooms,  instead  of  having  individual  lockers  in  large  rooms 
in  the  basement,  as  now  found  in  many  high-school  houses 
of  recent  construction. 

An  excellent  use  has,  however,  been  made  of  the  central 
space  in  the  basement  of  the  Springfield  building.  A  large 
lunch  room  is  here  provided  with  double  counters  equipped 
for  furnishing  light  refreshments. 

The  question  of  lunches  is  one  of  the  important  and 
unsolved  hygienic  problems  in  high  school  education.  This 
problem  arises  from  the  relatively  short  school  day  in  sec- 
ondary schools ;  it  is  too  long  for  one  session  and  too  short 
for  two.  When  put  into  one,  the  dinner  hour  is  too  late ; 
when  divided  into  two,  the  short  cold  lunch  hastily  eaten  is 


38  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  [446 

equally  objectionable  and  detrimental  to  the  health  of  the 
pupils.     A  large,  well-appointed  cafe  in  the  building,  where 
it  can  be  secured  and  managed  economically  for  the  pupils 
is  the  best  solution  of  the  problem.     This  gives  two  short 
sessions,  with  a  light  warm  lunch  given  at  the  proper  time. 

THE    MANUAL    TRAINING    HIGH    SCHOOL 

It  has  been  noticed  that  the  high  or  secondary  school  in 
America  started  simply  as  additional  grades  to  the  eighth 
grammar  grade ;  and  that  these  grades  confined  the  atten- 
tion of  the  pupils  to  books  only,  differing  from  the  work  of 
the  lower  grades  only  in  the  subject-matter  found  in  them. 
We  have  seen  the  school  house  for  this  work  grow  from  the 
ordinary  school  room  type  to  that  just  described. 

No  less  interesting  is  the  growth  of  the  manual  training 
high-school  house  which  is  as  in  the  former  case  a  material 
expression  of  educational  progress  in  this  country. 

With  the  growth  of  the  high  school  and  the  multiplying 
of  branches  of  study,  came  a  tendency  too  scholastic  and 
bookish  for  practical  purposes,  when  science  came  in  as  a 
balance.  But  laboratory  science,  excellent  as  it  serves  its 
purpose,  is  inadequate.  The  applications  of  science  to  the 
world  of  industry  and  art  is  not  made  a  part  of  the  pupil's 
growth  until  he  can  make  this  application  a  part  of  his 
training. 

The  first  response  to  this  demand  for  the  practical  ele- 
ment was,  as  in  the  case  of  the  high  school,  crude.  It  was 
merely  a  better  sort  of  apprenticeship  —  a  trade  school. 
Later,  a  little  academic  work  was  added  —  just  thrown  in  for 
"  a  little  book  learning."  Still  later  the  use  of  tools  was 
generalized,  the  academic  requirements  enlarged  by  the 
introduction  of  branches  of  high  school  grade.  The  curric- 
ulum was  adapted  to  pupils  of  high  school  age.  The  time 
was  divided  between  tool  work,  drawing,  and  book  studies, 
and  the  "  manual  training  high  school "  became  a  reality. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  trace  the  growth  and  develop- 
ment of  these  schools  by  giving  plates  from  the  first  one 


447]  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  39 

which  was  built  in  St.  Louis  twenty  years  ago  under  the 
direction  of  Calvin  M.  Woodward,  and  still  a  flourishing 
school,  to  the  latest  and  most  improved ;  but  space  forbids. 
The  first  of  these  schools  were  supposed  to  be  for  those 
who  expected  to  be  mechanics  and  were  for  boys  only.  It 
was  not  till  the  establishment  of  the  St.  Louis  school  that 
manual  training  was  considered  on  an  educational  basis. 

With  the  recognition  of  the  educational  claims  of  manual 
training,  apart  from  its  practical  utility,  came  the  apportion- 
ment of  the  academic  studies  and  tool  work  in  making  out 
the  curriculum.  In  doing  this,  varying  knowledge  and  con- 
flicting ideas  have  been  crystalized  and  recorded  in  the 
school  houses.  In  some  cases,  one  or  two  shops  were  added 
to  the  ordinary  high  school  where  the  boys  could  work 
**  after  school ; "  in  others  built  for  manual  training  schools, 
the  shops  predominated,  and  the  mere  mechanic  fixed  the 
character  of  the  school  with  too  few  of  the  academic 
characteristics. 

Later  came  the  extension  of  the  manual  high  school  to 
girls,  and  the  modification  of  the  training  answering  to  their 
needs  along  the  lines  of  the  feminine  industries ;  and  this 
correlated  with  the  full  academic,  art  and  science  provisions 
of  the  ordinary  high  school. 

Thus  have  the  two  types  of  school  —  the  purely  academic 
and  the  purely  mechanical  —  grown,  developed,  and  con- 
verged into  one  correlated  unit  forming  the  high  school,  par 
excellence.  The  term  "  manual  training,"  which  at  first  had 
its  uses  in  distinguishing  two  distinct  types  has  become  some- 
what misleading  in  its  application  tothe  school  of  to-day ; 
but  it  must  still  be  retained  for  the  want  of  a  better  means 
of  designating  it  from  those  high  schools  which  have  not  yet 
incorporated  manual  training  into  the  curriculum. 

The  Kansas  City  manual  training  high  school,  Plate  XIX, 
is  here  given  as  a  type  of  its  class,  not  because  it  is  in  all 
respects  superior  to  others  or  because  it  is  free  from  defects, 
but  rather  because  it  was  planned  after  others  had  been  care- 
fully studied. 


40  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  [448 

The  public  manual  training  high  school  building  of  to-day 
should  embody  in  its  construction  rooms  specialized  for  a 
four  years'  course  in  art,  science,  academic  work,  and  man- 
ual training  for  boys  and  girls  ;  and  owing  to  the  expense  of 
maintaining  it  above  that  of  the  ordinary  high  school,  its 
construction  should  be  undertaken  with  the  strictest  economy 
consistent  with  hygienic  and  architectural  requirements. 

The  writer  believes  that  more  of  these  requisites  have 
been  realized  in  this  than  in  any  other  school  house  yet 
built.  When  finished  (the  east  pavilion  completing  the 
design  as  shown  is  now,  December,  1899,  nearly  completed), 
it  will  be  190  feet  in  length  and  140  feet  greatest  width  ;  it 
is  built  on  a  lot  250  feet  long  by  165  feet  wide,  and  has  a 
frontage  on  three  streets. 

The  central  and  right  hand  (as  shown  by  the  cut)  pavil- 
ions were  built  in  1897  at  a  cost  of  $100000  ;  this  includes 
heating,  ventilating,  plumbing,  laboratory,  equipment,  fur- 
nishings, and  manual  training  equipment  for  first  two  years 
of  the  course,  but  not  the  ground.  The  wing  now  being 
built  will,  with  its  equipment,  cost  $50000  more,  making  a 
total  of  $150000  for  the  entire  plant.  The  basement  walls 
are  of  limestone  blocks  rough  hewn  and  "  pitch  faced." 
The  upper  stories  are  of  Kansas  City  buff  brick,  the  first 
story  being  *'  six  cut "  work.  The  roof  is  of  brown  slate. 
The  architectural  effect  is  pleasing ;  it  is  plain,  straight- 
forward, and  free  from  meritricious  ornamentation.  Flam- 
boyant trimmings  are  absent.  Something  of  the  harmonious 
effects  which  have  been  noted  in  the  Cambridge  high  school 
have  been  given  to  this  with  less  expensive  materials.  The 
arches  which  span  the  piers  between  the  windows  of  the  sec- 
ond and  third  stories  of  the  central  pavilion,  while  suggested 
by  the  Romanesque  style  of  architecture,  do  not  sacrifice 
the  lighting  of  the  rooms,  for  the  mullioned  windows  as 
here  employed  give  a  larger  opening  than  could  be  other- 
wise secured.  But  the  transom  bars  used  in  these  windows 
should  have  been  omitted,  for  they  obstruct  light  and  do  not 
improve  the  appearance. 


449]  SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE   AND    HYGIENE  4 1 

The  heating  is  accomplished  by  indirect,  supplemented  by 
direct,  steam  radiation  ;  the  ventilation  by  two  Hope  pro- 
pellers, 6  ft.  in  diameter,  one  in  the  fresh  air  room  serving 
as  a  plenum,  the  other  in  the  foul  air  room  as  exhaust. 

The  chief  merit  of  this  lies  in  the  central  location  of  the 
plenum  containing  the  indirect  steam  coils.  The  arrange- 
ment is  shown  in  the  basement  plan  ;  the  plenum  is  the  unlet- 
tered room  in  the  center.  A  change  was  made  in  the  plan 
which  makes  the  plenum  room  slightly  smaller  than  repre- 
sented. This  room  with  its  heated  steam  coils  and  fresh  air 
supply  are  to  the  buildings  what  lungs  are  to  an  animal,  and 
its  location  in  the  center  insures  a  balanced  circulation.  The 
movement  of  the  air  is  as  follows  :  The  plenum  fan  located 
in  the  fresh  air  room  receives  the  supply  through  vertical 
shafts  on  either  side  of  the  front  entrance.  The  openings 
into  these  shafts  are  the  large  louvre  windows  shown  in  the 
perspective,  Plate  XIX.  These  windows  are  on  the  north 
side  of  the  building  far  removed  from  any  source  of  smoke 
and  high  enough  from  the  ground  to  insure  purity.  The 
course  of  the  air  after  it  is  forced  through  the  plenum  room 
may  be  followed  by  referring  to  the  cross  section  of  the 
building,  Plate  XXII.  The  section  is  made  through  the 
fresh  air,  plenum,  and  foul  air  rooms  and  shows  the  position 
of  both  fans.  The  air  rises  through  the  fresh  air  flues  and 
is  delivered  into  the  rooms  about  8  ft.  from  the  floor.  It  is 
drawn  out  by  the  exhaust  fan  located  in  the  foal  air  room 
through  the  foul  air  flues  which  lead  from  the  wall  registers 
near  the  floor  to  a  sub-basement  shown  in  fig.  i.  This  sub- 
basement  is  three  feet  high  and  extends  the  entire  length  of 
the  building  the  full  width  of  the  bicycle  rooms ;  four  wings 
extend  from  this  subway  so  as  to  communicate  with  the  four 
sections  of  flues  between  the  rooms.  The  exhaust  fan 
draws  the  air  from  this  subway,  thus  connecting  the  lower 
registers  of  every  room  with  low  pressure. 

It  would  require  a  longitudinal  section  of  the  building 
through  the  bicycle  rooms  to  illustrate  the  movement  of  the 
air  toward  the  outside  pavilions  :  but  this  is  easily  described. 


42  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  [450 

A  "false"  ceiling  three  feet  below  the  floor  over  the  bicycle 
rooms  provides  an  open  free  passage  for  the  air  as  it  is 
forced  from  the  plenum  room ;  this  is  virtually  an  exten- 
sion of  the  plenum  room  to  the  openings  to  every  fresh  air 
flue  in  the  house  without  the  use  of  distributing  pipes. 

By  this  means,  all  the  friction  which  is  incident  to  the 
usual  method  of  pipe  distribution  is  eliminated.  This  being 
a  departure  in  pneumatic  engineering,  it  deserves  some 
attention ;  it  was  a  concession  on  the  part  of  the  architect 
and  the  result  of  a  compromise  with  the  writer  who  wanted 
to  extend  this  plenum  chamber  in  the  same  manner  beneath 
the  floors  instead  of  near  the  ceiling  by  the  conventional 
method. 

Let  it  here  be  noted  that  the  economy  in  fuel  when  warm 
air  is  delivered  through  the  floors  and  so  distributed  that  it 
may  be  let  out  at  the  ceiling  is  enormous.  It  exceeds  the 
usual  way  by  a  ratio  almost  equal  to  that  of  the  mechanical 
system  of  ventilating  over  that  of  the  gravital  noted  on  a 
preceding  page. 

The  economy  in  warming  when  the  air  is  properly  dis- 
tributed through  the  floors  and  let  out  at  the  ceiling,  as 
compared  with  the  conventional  way,  has  been  carefully 
tested  by  the  writer  by  the  use  of  an  experimental  model. 
While  these  experiments  are  somewhat  too  technical  to  suit 
the  purposes  of  this  article,  a  study  of  the  plot,  Plate  XXIII, 
will  not  be  without  interest. 

The  figures  at  the  left  show  the  difference  in  inside  and 
outside  temperatures ;  those  at  the  top,  amperes  of  electric 
current  used  in  heating  iron  coils  as  the  source  of  heat ; 
those  at  the  bottom,  relative  heat  units.  It  will  be  noticed 
that  these  are  the  squares  of  the  amperes  above  and  thus 
show  the  well-known  thermal  relation  between  the  current 
and  its  thermal  equivalent.  It  will  be  understood  that  these 
numbers  are  not  real  thermal  units,  but  serve  to  show  the 
relative  amount  of  heat  at  different  readings  of  the  ammeter. 

The  line  AO  shows  the  results  when  the  air  was  distrib- 
uted under  the  floor  with  ventilation  above  ;  BO,  when  the 


45  I  ]  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE 


43 


air  was  delivered  at  the  side  with  ventilation  below ;  CO, 
when  the  air  was  delivered  near  the  top  and  let  out  at  the 
top.  Take  an  example :  Suppose  the  temperature  above 
that  outside  of  the  room  to  be  50  degrees,  this  temperature 
line  crosses  the  resultant  line  at  X,  showing  that  it  requires 
2  1-2  amperes  of  current  to  maintain  this  temperature  when 
heat  is  applied  below.  With  the  same  temperature  when 
the  heat  is  applied  at  the  side  the  line  crosses  at  B,  showing 
10  amperes.  Whence  it  is  plain  that  the  relative  heat 
required  in  the  two  cases  is  shown  by  the  ratio  of  6  1-2  to 
100.  In  plain  words,  it  would  require  only  6  1-2  per  cent 
of  the  cost  by  present  methods  to  heat  a  building  if  the  air 
were  properly  distributed,  delivered  through  the  floors,  and 
let  out  at  the  top. 

The  writer  fully  realizes  that  the  foregoing  brief  state- 
ments will  be  somewhat  unsatisfactory  to  those  who  are 
unfamiliar  with  the  details  of  the  tests,'  but  he  is  confident 
that  this  method  of  warming  and  ventilating  has  reached 
the  stage  of  successful  experiment,  and  will  as  surely  dis- 
place the  old  way  as  that  the  electric  motor  displaced  the 
horse  in  street  car  locomotion. 

Returning  to  the  extended  plenum  chamber  under  the 
corridor  floors,  it  may  be  said  that  it  works  perfectly,  and  so 
much  of  the  '*  theory  "  has  passed  into  history. 

During  the  first  two  years  of  its  use  this  system,  with  the 
exception  of  the  register  in  one  room,  has  required  no  regu- 
lation of  the  registers,  notwithstanding  the  absence  of  ther- 
mostats. The  exceptional  room  is  on  the  first  floor  just 
opposite  the  plenum  fan ;  in  this  the  delivery  is  excessive 
unless  the  register  is  kept  partly  closed.  The  exception  is 
of  so  little  importance,  however,  that  the  placing  of  a  deflec- 
tor in  the  plenum  room  has  not  been  found  necessary. 

While  the  ventilation  of  this  building  has  some  of  the 
defects  common  to  current  practice,  the  writer  believes  that 

'  For  full  explanation  and  experimental  details  of  these  tests,  see  the  writer's 
paper  in  the  Report  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Mechanical  Engineering  Section, 
American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  at  Columbus,  C,  1899. 


44  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  [452 

it  is  the  best  ventilated  school  house  in  America,  and,  the 
size  of  the  building  considered,  the  most  economical. 

The  fans,  when  running  at  full  speed,  400  revolutions, 
move  60000  cublic  feet  per  minute.  This  would  supply 
2000  pupils  each  with  1800  feet  per  hour.  The  average 
daily  attendance  during  the  past  year,  1898-9,  was  about 
900.  The  fans  were  run  250  revolutions  per  minute  giving 
each  pupil  2500  cubic  feet  of  pure  warm  air  per  hour. 

The  lighting  of  this  building  is  nearly  ideal.  The  H 
plan  of  construction  provides  light  on  three  sides  of  all 
rooms  used  for  laboratories,  manual  training  and  mechanical 
drawing ;  including  the  lunch  rooms  and  the  engine  room  in 
the  basement  there  are  16  of  these.  The  large  windows  at 
and  above  the  three  main  entrances  furnish  ample  light  for 
the  halls  and  corridors.  The  class  rooms  do  not  conform  to 
the  ideal  standard  recommended  in  the  preceding  pages. 
These  rooms,  while  of  ideal  shape  and  size,  are  lighted  on 
the  shorter  instead  of  the  longer  side.  But  considering  the 
use  of  the  entire  available  wall  space  which  has  been 
employed  for  the  mullioned  windows  lighting  these  rooms, 
the  height  of  the  rooms  being  14  feet,  and  the  use  which  is 
made  of  the  rooms,  this  departure  from  standard  require- 
ments is  not  serious.  It  should  be  remembered  that  in  high 
school  academic  work  there  is  comparatively  little  pen-writ- 
ing done,  the  greater  use  of  the  eyes  being  confined  to 
blackboard  work.  The  light  in  these  rooms  is  ample  for  all 
purposes  for  which  they  are  ever  used. 

The  assembly  hall  is  as  light  as  day  itself,  as  may  readily 
be  inferred  by  glancing  at  the  third  floor  plan.  With  ceil- 
ing 24  feet  high,  and  light  from  18  large  mullioned  windows 
8  feet  by  16  feet  with  arched  windows  above  these,  entering 
from  opposite  sides,  more  light  is  provided  than  is  called  for 
by  any  standard.  This  assembly  hall  is  1 20  feet  by  84  feet 
and  has  a  seating  capacity  of  1600  persons;  it  serves  for 
lectures,  concerts,  study  hall,  and  commencement  exercises. 
It  is  equipped  for  stereopticon  projection  work  ;  and  although 
there  is  a  window  area  of  2800  square  feet,  the  room  is  com- 


453]  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE 


45 


pletely  darkened  in  50  seconds  by  an  automatic  electrical 
device  which  controls  the  raising  and  lowering  of  the  dark- 
ening shades  and  the  screen  back  of  the  platform. 

It  may  be  noted  here  that  provision  for  darkening  rooms 
for  scientific  purposes  and  for  illustrated  lectures  is  another 
phase  of  modern  school  architecture,  and  not  until  recently 
have  the  mechanical  difficulties  incident  thereto  been  entirely 
overcome.  The  mechanism  in  the  Kansas  City  school  con- 
sists of  a  I  h.  p.  Westinghouse  motor  with  worm  gear,  mag- 
netic clutch,  and  drum  attachment  which  moves  a  steel  cable 
extending  around  the  room  under  the  windows  and  beneath 
the  floors. 

The  physical  and  biological  laboratories  provide  for  teach- 
ing physics,  chemistry,  botany,  and  zoology,  and  all  have 
separate  teacher's  laboratory  for  research  work.  The  work- 
ing tables  in  the  physical  laboratory  are  each  separately 
wired  for  the  individual  use  of  the  current  by  the  pupils. 
The  brick  pier  (shown  in  the  plan  of  the  girls'  lunch  room) 
terminates  in  the  physics  demonstration  table  furnishing  a 
vibrationless  support  for  galvanometer  experiments. 

The  chemical  laboratory  is  furnished  with  students'  work- 
ing desks  with  solid  slate  slab  tops.  Six  drawers  to  each 
desk  provide  a  locker  for  each  pupil  in  which  to  keep  appa- 
ratus for  which  he  is  alone  responsible.  Three  large  gas 
hoods  located  against  the  walls  and  in  communication  with 
the  exhaust  fan  give  perfect  ventilation  and  provide  a  place 
to  generate  noxious  gases.  Another  point  of  special  con- 
venience in  these  laboratories  is  the  sliding  door  16  feet 
wide  which  throws  them  together  with  the  adjoining  large 
class  rooms.  By  this  arrangement,  the  teacher  may  oversee 
a  laboratory  division  while  conducting  a  recitation. 

The  tables  in  the  biological  laboratories  are  topped  with 
plate  glass  which  has  the  advantage  of  smooth,  easily-cleaned 
surface  for  dissections.  Wall  paper  of  a  neutral  tint  placed 
under  the  glass  relieves  the  eyes  of  the  pupils.  The  main 
corridors  on  the  first  and  second  floors  are  19  feet  wide  and 
serve  the  double  purpose  of  corridors  and  exhibition  halls 


'46  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  [454 

where  at  the  closing  week  an  exhibit  of  the  yearly  work  is 
arranged  on  long  tables. 

The  large  "geology  and  natural  history  room."  on  the  sec- 
ond floor  will  hereafter  be  used  for  a  free-hand  drawing  and 
art  room,  the  north  light  making  it  ideal  for  this  purpose. 

The  pupils'  wraps  are  provided  for  in  locker  rooms  in  the 
basement. 

The  outside  pavilions  are  of  the  "mill  construction" 
which  is  especially  to  be  commended  for  shops  and  labora- 
tories. The  inside  walls  are  of  pressed  brick.  The  floors 
are  supported  by  large  steel  I  beams  running  crosswise,  car- 
rying large,  finished,  wooden  joists.  One  entire  pavilion  is 
used  to  accommodate  the  manual  training  work  ;  while  archi- 
tecturally a  unit  with  the  other  part  of  the  building,  this 
pavilion  is  set  off  by  an  independent  wall  with  a  4-inch 
cushion  of  air  between  to  prevent  the  communication  of 
vibrations  to  the  class  rooms  from  running  machinery.  An 
additional  precaution  is  furnished  by  the  intervening  locker 
and  wash  rooms  which  serve  the  boys  in  preparing  their 
toilets  after  the  shop  exercise. 

The  entire  inside  finish  is  of  selected  yellow  pine.  The 
building  is  not  fireproof,  except  the  "  slow  combustion " 
which  the  mill  construction  secures  to  the  parts  just  men- 
tioned. The  isolation  of  the  building  and  a  system  of  night- 
watch  signals  make  fireproof  construction  unnecessary. 

The  numerous  class  rooms  supplementing  the  laboratories, 
shops,  drawing  and  art  rooms  provide  conveniences  for  a 
complete  high  school  academic  course  correlated  with  labora- 
tory science,  manual  training  and  drawing. 

The  stairs  in  this  building  conform  to  the  standard  require- 
ments as  to  number  and  height.  The  double  staircases  at 
either  end  of  the  main  corridor  and  the  single  one  at  the 
end  of  the  central  hall  afford  ample  and  free  egress  in  case 
of  fire.  The  stairs  are  five  feet  in  width  with  six-inch  risers 
and  twelve-inch  treads. 

While  the  injury  to  the  American  school  girl  from  stair 
climbing  has  probably  been  exaggerated,  it  is  undoubtedly 


455]  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  47 

true  that  girls  of  delicate  organization  have  suffered  much 
from  this  cause.  It  seems  to  be  the  consensus  of  opinion  of 
all  who  have  considered  the  subject  that  the  six-inch  riser 
and  twelve-inch  tread  makes  the  easiest  stairway.  There 
should  not  be  more  than  fifteen  stairs  between  landings. 

'  CLOSETS 

The  location  of  closets  should  be  determined  by  the  exist- 
ing facilities  for  ventilation  and  drainage.  Where  there  is 
any  doubt  as  to  the  efficiency  of  either,  closets  should  be 
placed  in  outside  buildings ;  but  when  a  school  house  has 
the  advantage  of  good  sewage  and  mechanical  ventilation, 
the  place  for  pupils'  closets  is  the  basement. 

The  condition  of  closets  and  outhouses  which  usually 
prevails  in  districts  without  sewage  deserves  the  severest 
criticism.  It  is  here  that  the  results  of  ignorance  and  care- 
lessness are  fully  revealed.  The  privy  vault  should  never 
be  tolerated,  and  the  large  receptacle  surface  tanks  which 
are  usually  "  cleaned  "  two  or  three  times  a  year  are  little 
better.  The  following  quotation  from  the  report  of  the 
state  board  of  health  of  Maine  for  1892-3  is  good,  and 
covers  about  all  which  need  be  said  of  outhouse  closets : 
"All  that  is  needed  is  a  common  closet,  a  supply  of  dry 
earth,  a  water-tight  receptacle  beneath,  and  a  convenient 
way  of  disposing  of  its  contents  at  quite  frequent  intervals. 

"  The  receptacle  should  be  wholly  above  the  surface  of  the 
ground,  and  may  consist  of  a  metallic-lined  box,  a  half  of  a 
kerosene  barrel  with  handles  upon  it  for  removal,  or,  which 
is  better,  a  large  galvanized  iron  pail. 

"  The  receptacle  may  be  removed  through  a  door  in  the 
back  of  the  closet  or  in  front  of  the  seat,  or,  by  having  the 
seat  hinged  and  made  to  button  backward,  it  maybe  removed 
that  way.  The  earth  should  be  common  garden  or  field 
loam  and  finely  pulverized.  Road  dust  does  well,  but  sand 
is  not  suitable.  Coal  ashes  are  good.  Whichever  of  these 
is  used  should  be  dry  and  screened  through  a  sieve  with 
about  quarter  inch  meshes.     The  dry  earth  may  be  kept  in 


48  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  [456 

a  box  or  bin  so  arranged,  where  it  can  be,  that  it  may  be  filled 
from  the  outside  of  the  closet,  or  it  is  quite  convenient  to 
have  one-half  of  the  seat  hinged,  and  beneath  it  the  small 
compartment  to  hold  the  present  supply  of  the  earth.  In 
this  box  or  bin  holding  the  earth  there  may  be  a  small  tin 
scoop  which  may  be  employed  in  sprinkling  in  the  earth,  a 
pint  or  more  each  time  the  closet  is  used.  The  main  thing 
is  to  use  enough  of  the  earth  to  completely  absorb  all  liquids, 
and  this  requirement,  of  course,  precludes  the  throwing  of 
slops  into  the  closet." 

Figure  i,  Plate  XXIV,  shows  the  construction  of  this 
closet. 

Arrangements  could  easily  be  made  with  gardeners  or 
farmers  for  the  daily  removal  of  the  contents  of  these 
receptacles  for  fertilizing  purposes. 

Closets  under  the  roof  of  the  school  building  should  have 
good  sewer  connection  through  a  heavy  cast  iron  soil  pipe 
which  should  have  a  vertical  extension  in  a  pipe  3  or  4 
inches  in  diameter  through  the  roof  for  ventilation ;  an  effi- 
cient trap  situated  in  a  convenient  manhole ;  an  automatic 
flushing  tank,  and  local  ventilation  for  each  separate  seat. 

It  is  important  that  provision  be  made  in  school  house 
closets  against  the  stopping  up  of  pipes  and  traps,  and  the 
neglect  incident  to  hand  flushing,  hence  automatic  latrines 
are  preferable  to  single  closets.  The  mechanical  conditions 
of  a  perfect  system  of  closets  may  be  studied  by  referring 
to  the  cut,  Fig.  2,  which  shows  a  longitudinal  section  of  the 
automatic  flushing  latrine  in  the  Kansas  City  manual  train- 
ing high  school. 

It  was  installed  by  Lewis  &  Kitchen  of  Kansas  City. 
The  trough  is  made  of  cast  iron  lined  with  heavy  enamel 
and  is  perfectly  smooth  and  durable.  The  bottom  is  so 
constructed  that  the  water  stands  only  in  the  parts  of  the 
trough  directly  under  the  seat.  The  trap  is  the  invention 
of  J.  H.  Brady,  engineer  for  the  Kansas  City  board  of  edu- 
cation ;  it  is  hinged  so  that  it  may  be  raised  up  allowing  all 
accidental  lodgements  a  free  exit ;  it  is  located  in  the  bottom 


457]  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  49 

of  a  dry  vault  and  may  be  reached  with  a  hook  in  the  hands 
of  the  janitor  or  other  person.  There  is  no  possibility  of 
needing  the  services  of  a  plumber  should  the  trap  become 
clogged. 

The  upper  drawing  in  the  cut  shows  the  local  ventilation 
of  each  separate  closet.  The  air  enters  just  below  the 
front  part  of  the  seat  and  passes  out  at  the  back  into  the 
vent  duct  which  is  in  direct  communication  with  the  exhaust 
fan.  The  ventilation  in  this  method  of  transverse  move- 
ment of  the  air  is  better  than  it  is  possible  to  secure  in 
systems  which  ventilate  the  trough  longitudinally,  for  even 
when  the  lids  of  the  seats  are  left  down  the  air  passing 
under  them  from  above  will  supply  the  current  and  prevent 
the  requisite  flow  from  the  end  of  the  trough  remote  from 
the  vent. 

The  boys'  urinals  are  of  the  stall  partition  type  with 
gutter  trough  ventilated  at  the  bottom.  The  back,  ends 
and  partitions  are  made  of  hammered  glass,  the  t-ead  and 
trough  being  of  slate.  Glass  is  preferable  above  all  other 
material  for  this  purpose  as  it  is  easily  cleaned  and  free  from 
any  tendency  to  disintegration. 

NORMAL    SCHOOL    AND    COLLEGE    BUILDINGS 

The  essentials  of  a  normal  school  house  are  not  materially 
different  from  those  of  a  first  class  high  school.  Class 
rooms  of  ordinary  typical  construction  serve  the  purpose  of 
"professional  "  work  with  training  classes,  and  with  modern 
views  now  taking  root  respecting  the  amount  of  academic, 
science,  and  manual  training  needed  in  normal  school 
courses,  these  functions  have  already  been  considered  in 
describing  the  manual  training  high  school.  The  "  Teachers' 
college "  in  New  York  city  is  an  interesting  building  and 
might  serve  equally  well  the  purposes  of  a  modern  manual 
training  high  school.  In  universities,  the  work  is  specialized 
in  separate  buildings  which  simplifies  the  task  of  the  archi- 
tect. The  principles  of  sanitation  and  architectural  treat- 
ment indicated  in  the  buildings  already  referred  to  apply  so' 


50  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  [458 

well  to  special  buildings  that  separate  consideration  is  not 
considered  essential  to  this  short  monograph. 

INFLUENCE    OF    LEGISLATION    ON    SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE 

The  state  of  New  York  in  1887  passed  a  law  authorizing 
and  directing  the  state  superintendent  of  public  instruction 
to  procure  architects'  plans  and  specifications  for  school 
buildings  ranging  in  cost  from  $600  to  $10000.  This  was 
a  very  important  step  and  it  resulted  as  was  intended  in 
enlisting  the  best  architectural  talent  in  the  country.  Liberal 
prizes  for  the  most  meritorious  designs  were  offered,  and  as 
a  result  some  very  creditable  designs  were  secured.  The 
suggestions  which  these  designs  furnished  have  been  acted 
upon  in  many  districts  not  only  in  New  York  but  in  several 
other  states.  Following  is  the  list  of  the  names  and  resi- 
dences of  the  architects  who  presented  creditable  designs : 

Wm.  P.  Appleyard  and  E.  A.  Bowd,  Lansing,  Mich. 

John  R.  Church,  Rochester,  N.  Y. 

John  Cox,  Jr.,  New  York  city. 

Clarence  True,  Yonkers,  N.  Y. 

C.  Powell  Karr,  Rochester,  N.  Y. 

J.  C.  A.  Heriot  and  Corliss  McKinney,  Albany,  N.  Y^ 

J.  Frank  Lyman,  Yonkers,  N.  Y. 

Warren  R.  Briggs,  Bridgeport,  Conn. 

Fenimore  C.  Bate,  Cleveland,  Ohio.  . 

Proudfoot  &  Bird,  Wichita,  Kans. 

In  1882,  the  state  superintendent  of  Wisconsin  invited  the 
competition  of  architects  in  furnishing  designs  at  small  cost. 
Following  are  the  names  and  addresses  of  architects  who 
made  valuable  contributions : 

J.  Bruess,  Milwaukee,  Wise. 

W.  G.  Kirchaffer,  Elkhorn,  Wise. 

Edbrooke  &  Burnham,  Chicago,  111. 

H.  C.  Koch  &  Co.,  Milwaukee,  Wise. 

G.  Stanley  Mansfield,  Freeport,  111.  ^ 

F.  S.  Allen,  Joliet,  111. 

F.  W.  Hollister,  Saginaw,  Mich. 

In   1895,  the  state  legislature  passed  a  law  which  says 


459]  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE   AND    HYGIENE  5 1 

that : —  "  Hereafter  no  school  house  shall  be  constructed  in 
the  city  of  New  York  without  an  open-air  playground 
attached  to  or  used  in  connection  with  the  same."  This  law 
has  done  much  toward  improving  the  hygienic  conditions  in 
New  York,  and  its  influence  has  been  felt  in  other  cities. 

The  state  laws  of  Massachusetts  provide  for  the  placing  of 
fire  escapes  in  all  buildings  more  than  two  stories  in  height ; 
also  "  that  every  school  house  shall  be  kept  in  a  cleanly  state 
and  free  from  effluvia  arising  from  any  drain,  privy,  or  other 
nuisance,  and  shall  be  provided  with  a  sufficient  number  of 
proper  water  and  earth  closets."  It  further  provides  that 
"  every  school  house  shall  be  ventilated  in  such  a  proper 
manner  that  the  air  shall  not  become  so  exhausted  as  to  be 
injurious  to  the  health  of  the  persons  present  therein." 

The  state  laws  of  Kentucky  provide  that  each  school 
house  shall  have  a  floor  space  of  not  less  than  ten  square 
feet  to  each  pupil  in  the  district ;  shall  be  at  least  ten  feet 
between  floor  and  ceiling  ;  shall  have  at  least  four  windows  ; 
one  or  more  fireplaces  with  chimneys  made  of  brick  or  stone." 
It  also  provides  that  each  school  house  shall  provide  for  each 
child  "  a  seat  with  back  the  height  of  the  seat  and  its  back 
to  suit  the  age  of  the  child  —  no  desk  or  bench  to  be  made 
to  accommodate  more  than  two  children." 

The  statutes  of  Vermont  (1896)  provide  that :  "  The  state 
board  of  health  shall  within  reasonable  time  and  as  often  as  it 
thinks  necessary  issue  a  circular  letter  to  the  local  boards  of 
health  giving  the  best  information  as  to  lighting,  heating, 
ventilating,  and  other  sanitary  arrangements  according  to 
regulations  by  the  state  board  of  health." 

The  laws  of  Connecticut  provide  that  "  every  school  house 
shall  be  ventilated  in  such  manner  that  the  air  shall  not  be 
injurious  to  the  health  of  the  persons  present  therein." 

In  many  of  the  states  the  only  legislation  is  that  doors  in 
school  houses  shall  open  outward.  This  is  a  precautionary 
provision  against  accidents  in  fires,  and  seems  to  be  more 
generally  recognized  by  state  legislatures  than  any  other 
single  necessity. 


52  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  [460 

In  many  other  states  there  has  been  no  legislation 
whatever. 

In  view  of  the  large  benefits  which  have  already  been  real- 
ized from  the  little  legislation  that  has  been  made  in  a  few 
states,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  this  important  means  of  enlight- 
enment will  become  more  general  in  the  United  States. 

WORK    OF    SCHOOL    SUPERVISORS    AND    ARCHITECTS 

Next  to  the  good  which  has  been  accomplished  by  state 
legislation  comes  that  which  has  been  done  by  state  superin- 
tendents who,  realizing  the  importance  of  school  architec- 
ture, hygiene,  and  sanitation,  have  from  time  to  time  embod- 
ied in  their  reports  valuable  information  as  to  the  needs  of 
the  schools  and  suggestions  as  to  how  to  supply  them. 

In  Wisconsin,  State  Superintendent  W.  C.  Whitford  in 
1882  issued  a  valuable  circular  on  "  Plans  and  specifications 
of  school  houses "  for  the  country  districts,  villages,  and 
smaller  cities  of  his  state.  In  1892  Supt.  Oliver  E.  Wells 
issued  a  valuable  pamphlet  containing  suggestions  and  plans 
for  the  ventilation  and  furnishing  of  school  houses. 

In  Michigan,  State  Supt.  Henry  R.  Pattengill  in  his 
report  for  1894  gave  some  valuable  information  on  "School 
grounds,  school  house  architecture,  and  outbuildings."  Also 
Supt.  John  E.  Hammond  in  his  report  for  1897  gives  valu- 
able information. 

The  state  board  of  Connecticut  issue  from  time  to  time 
valuable  school  documents,  among  which  No.  13  is  a  valu- 
able scientific  monograph  on  "  School  house  warming  and 
ventilating"  by  S.  H.  Woodbridge.  Documents  Nos.  12  and 
1 5  contain  suggestions  on  ventilation,  and  show  a  large  col- 
lection of  plans  for  school  houses. 

For  the  state  of  New  York,  Supt.  Chas.  R.  Skinner  has 
issued  several  reports  of  great  value,  among  which  is  a  large 
bound  volume  on  "  Recent  school  architecture,"  and  contains 
a  large  number  of  plates  showing  the  plans  and  perspectives 
of  many  of  the  best  school  houses  in  the  state. 

State  Supt.  Nathan  C.  Schaefer  of  the  state  of  Pennsyl- 


46 1  ]  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE   AND    HYGIENE  $$ 

vania  has  given  in  several  of  his  reports  many  good  sugges- 
tions, and  has  been  unsparing  in  his  criticisms  on  existing 
conditions  in  country  schools,  as  a  means  of  stimulating 
effort  toward  the  improvement  of  school  buildings  in  his 
state. 

In  Missouri,  Supt.  Jno.  R.  Kirk  has  done  some  excellent 
work  in  the  improvement  of  country  schools  and  in  his 
reports  of  1896  and  1897  he  gives  apian  for  a  model  country 
school  house  which  has  been  adopted  by  many  of  the  country 
districts  in  the  states.  This  plan  possesses  the  sanitary 
features  described  in  the  other  one-room  building  already 
described. 

Of  the  architects  who  have  not  hereinbefore  been  men- 
tioned and  who  have  done  excellent  work  in  school  house 
building  may  be  named :  Robert  S.  Roeschlaub,  Denver, 
Colo.;  E.  H.  Mead,  Lansing,  Michigan,  whose  "three-room 
building"  shown  in  the  Michigan  state  report  for  1898  is 
especially  to  be  commended ;  Arthur  Bohm,  Indianapolis, 
Ind.;  Hudson  &  Wachter,  architects,  Toledo,  Ohio;  How- 
ard &  Camdwell,  Newark,  N.  J.;  E.  A.  Joselyn,  New  York 
city. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY     OF     SCHOOL     HOUSE    ARCHITECTURE     AND 

SANITATION 

Alcott,  William  A.     Essay  on  the  construction  of  school  houses. 

pp.  66.     Hilliard:  Boston,  1832. 
Barnard,   Henry.     School   architecture,  or  contributions   to   the 

improvement   of  school   houses   in   the  United   States.     Sixth 

edition,     pp.464.     Norton:  New  York,  1854. 
Bicknell,  A.  J.    School  house  and  architecture.    Trubner :  London, 

1877- 

Chadwick,  E.  Sanitary  principles  of  school  construction.  Lon- 
don, 1877. 

Chase,  C.  T.  Manual  on  school  houses  and  cottages  for  the 
people  of  the  south,     pp.  83.     Wash.  1868. 

Clark,  Theodore  M.  Rural  school  architecture,  pp.  106.  Bureau 
of  education.    Wash.  1880. 

Construction  and  maintenance  of  school  infirmaries.  Churchill : 
London,  il 


54  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  [462 

Designs  for  school  houses  accepted  by  the  department  of  public 
instruction  of  the  state  of  New  York.  pp.  20,  with  19  com- 
petitive plans.     Albany,  1895. 

Designs  for  school  houses  accepted  by  the  department  of  public 
instruction  of  the  state  of  New  York.  pp.  20,  forty  pages  of 
plans.     Albany,  1889. 

Dickson  system  of  school  house  construction.  2000  feet  of  air 
per  hour  for  each  pupil  without  mechanical  power.  School 
House  Construction  Company,  215,  217,  219  South  Adams  street, 
Peoria,  111.     pp.  35.     Peoria,  111.,  1894. 

Dukes,  Clement.     School  construction.     Lawrence :  Rugby,  Eng. 

Dunham,  C.  A.  The  model  school  house,  pp.  35.  Burlington, 
Iowa,  1894. 

Eveleth,  Samuel  F.  School  house  architecture.  Illustrated  in  17 
designs  in  various  styles,  pp.  14,  6'j  plans.  Woodward  :  N.  Y. 
1870. 

Freese,  Jacob  R.  Report  on  school  house  and  means  of  promot- 
ing popular  education,     pp.  13.     Wash.  1868. 

Gardner,  E.  C.  Town  and  country  school  buildings.  Kellog :  N. 
Y.  1889,  contains  designs,  plans  and  descriptions. 

Gove,  Aaron.  Public  school  house.  Education  17  (March,  1897) 
407-411. 

Hints  and  suggestions  on  school  architecture  and  hygiene, 
with  plans  and  illustrations.  By  J.  George  Hodgins.  pp.  135. 
Toronto,  1886. 

Hodgins,  J.  George.  The  school  house,  its  architecture,  external 
and  internal  arrangements,  with  elevations  and  plans  for  public 
and  high  school  buildings,     pp.  271.     Copp :  Toronto,  1876. 

Johonnot,  James.  School  houses,  with  architects'  designs  by  S. 
E.  Hewes.     Schermerhorn:  N.  Y.  1872. 

Public  school  buildings  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  pp.  48, 
House  of  representatives  miscellaneous  documents  No.  35,  47th 
Congress,  1st  session.     Washington. 

Report  of  the  general  agent  (Massachusetts  board  of  education) 
on  the  condition  of  the  school  houses  and  giving  plans  and 
descriptions  of  school  houses  suitable  for  country  towns  and 
villlages.     pp.  64.     Boston,  1873. 

Saeltzer,  Alexander.  Treatise  on  accoustics  in  connection  with 
ventilation ;  and  an  account  of  the  modern  and  ancient  methods 
of  heating  and  ventilation.     New  York,  1872,  12. 


463]  SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  55 

School  houses  and  public  buildings.  How  they  may  be  safely 
constructed  and  properly  heated  and  ventilated.  Drawings  on 
exhibition  at  World's  Columbian  exhibition,  pp.  4,  1893  —  pp.  33 
with  plates.     (Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts.) 

Turabull,  G.  B.  New  high  school  building  at  Colorado  Springs. 
School  report,  i  (Dec.   1894):  682. 

Walker,  C.  H.     Suggestions  on  the  architecture  of  school  houses, 

Atlantic,  74  (Dec.  1894):  825. 
Plans  for  heating  and  ventilating  school  houses.     In  state  of 

Maine  board  of  health  report,  1891.     315-386. 

School  architecture  and  equipment  {buildings  and  grounds) 

Robins,  E.  C.  Technical  schools  and  college  buildings,  pp.  244. 
Whittaker:  London,  1887. 

Robins,  E.  R.  School  architecture :  planning,  designing,  build- 
ing.    pp.440.     Murray:  London,  1877. 

Wade,  Rufus  R.  School  houses  and  public  buildings  :  How  they 
may  be  safely  constructed  and  properly  heated  and  ventilated, 
pp.  35  — 34  plates  of  plans,  designs,  etc.     Boston,  1893. 

Wheelwright,  Edmund  M.  Series  of  17  articles  in  the  "  Brick- 
builder,"  Boston,  on  "  The  American  school  house." 

Ventilation  and  sanitation 

Briggs,  Robert  C.  Steam  heating  and  exposition  of  the  Ameri- 
can practice  of  warming  buildings  by  steam.  Pp.  122.  Van 
Nostrand:  New  York,  1888. 

Bryant,  Walter,  and  Herman,  Leopold.  An  exposition  on  heat- 
ing and  ventilating  the  school  houses  of  Boston  in  1846  and 
1847.     pp.24.     Bryant:  Boston,  1848. 

Colyer,  Frederick.  Public  institutions:  their  engineering,  sani- 
tary and  other  appliances,     pp.  219.     Spon:  London,  1889. 

Griscom,  John  H.  The  uses  and  abuses  of  air.  pp.  252.  N.  Y., 
1850. 

Jacob,  E.  H.  Notes  on  ventilation  and  warming  of  houses, 
churches,  schools  and  other  buildings,  pp.  124.  Young:  N.  Y., 
1882. 

Leeds,  Lewis  W.  A  treatise  on  ventilation,  pp.  226.  N.  Y., 
1882. 

Lupton,  N.  T.  On  heating  and  ventilation,  with  special  reference 
to  the  school  buildings  of  Nashville.     (Nashville,  1878.) 


SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE    AND    HYGIENE  [464 

Marble,  Albert  P.  Sanitary  conditions  for  school  houses,  pp.  i68. 
Bureau  of  education:  Washington,  1891. 

Moore,  Joseph  A.  Ventilation  of  school  buildings  in  Massachu- 
setts,    pp.  15.     Chicago,  1893. 

Morrison,  G.  B.  Ventilation  and  warming  of  school  buildings, 
pp.  22-173.     Appleton:  N.  Y.,  1887. 

Morrison,  G.  B.  Some  thermal  determinations  in  the  heating  of 
buildings.  Proceedings  of  "American  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science."     At  Columbus,  1899 

Nichols,  W.  R.  Sanitary  conditions  of  school  houses.  (Boston, 
1880.) 

Quimby,  H.  M.,  and  others.  Ventilation  of  school  houses  in 
Worcester,     pp.  24.     Worcester,  1889. 

Ross,  G.  On  the  ventilation  of  schools,  hospitals,  law  courts  and 
other  public  buildings.     Collingrade  :  London,  1874. 

Young,  A.  G.  School  hygiene  and  school  houses,  pp.  399. 
Augusta,  1892. 

This  is  the  seventh  annual  report  of  the  state  board  of  Maine,  and  is  the 
ablest  discussion  of  school  hygiene  that  has  yet  appeared  from  a  board  of 
health. 

Billings,  J.  S.  The  information  necessary  to  determine  the  merits 
of  the  heating  and  ventilation  of  a  school  building.  Proceedings 
National  educational  association,  1882.     pp.  11-19. 

Hubbard,  T.  Principles  of  warming  and  ventilation  as  applied  to 
our  public  schools.     (In.  pro.  san.  con.  O.,  1887.     p.  54.) 

Walker,  William  A.  Report  to  N.  Y.  county  board  of  education 
on  the  proper  size,  construction  and  means  of  ventilating  school 
houses,  and  the  arrangement  of  playgrounds.  Docs,  of  N.  Y. 
city  board  of  education.     1842-1850,  pp.  5-12.     (1846.) 

Woodbridge,  S.  H.  Connecticut  school  document,  No.  13,  on 
"  School  house  warming  and  ventilation." 


INDEX 


Academies,  148;  character  of,  153 

Accrediting  system,  165        ' 

Adolescence,  study  of,  182 

American  college,  the,  209,  238 ;  aca- 
demic honors,  224;  administration, 
235;  alterations  in  the  course,  214; 
bachelors'  degree,  214 ;  changes, 
219;  elective  courses,  227 ;  ex- 
penses, 235;  its  place  and  import- 
ance, 209;  list  of  colleges,  241; 
modes  of  instruction,  227;  organiza- 
tion and  administration,  235;  pro- 
posal to  shorten  the  course,  212; 
statistics,  239;  student  life,  229;  the 
college  of  to-day,  212 ;  the  old- 
fashioned  college,  210 

American  universities,  xv 

American  university,  the,  253  ;  bibli- 
ography, 316;  contrast  with  Euro- 
pean universities,  280;  fellowships 
and  scholarships,  3CX);  gifts  and 
endowments,  300;  graduate  instruc- 
tion, 283;  publications,  297;  qualifi- 
cations for  admission  to  graduate 
instruction,  290;  statistics,  296,  314; 
studies  and  degrees,  290;  use  of 
word  "  university,"  254 

Average  schooling  per  inhabitant,  139 

B 

Barnard  college,  344,  346 
Blow,  Susan  E.,  Kindergarten  education^  35 
Brown,  Elmer  Ellsworth,  Secondary  edu- 
cation, 143 
Bryn  Mawr  college,  263,  337 
Butler,  Nicholas  Murray,  Introduction,  vii 


Cambridge,  Mass.,  English  high  school, 
plates  xiv  and  xv 


Catholic  university  of  America,  255,  S59 
Centralization,  tendency  toward,  21 
Chicago  kindergarten  college,  75,  376 
City  school  systems,  12 
Clark  university,  255,  257,  398 
Co-education,  321;    attitude    of  various 
sections  of  the  United  States,  map 
facing  p.  328;  growth,  chart  facing 
p.  331;  in  colleges,    321;  in  elemen- 
tary schools,  103;  in  fourteen  south- 
ern and  two  southern  middle  states, 
table  facing    p.   327;   in    secondary 
schools,    180  ;    in  six  New  England 
and   three    northern  middle    states, 
table  facing  p.  327;  in  twenty  west- 
ern states  and  three  territories,  table 
facing  p.  327;  objections,  333  (note); 
progress    from    1890    to    1898    and 
1899  in  professional  education,  table 
facing  p.  351;  statistics,  328 
Co-education  of  the  sexes,  103 
Co-education  vs  separate  education,  355 
College  (see  American  college) 
College  entrance  requirements,  174 
College,  local  influence,  xv 
Colleges  for  women,  324;  Antioch,  324; 
Boston  university,  326;  Cornell,  326; 
Oberlin,  324;  state  universities,  324 
Colleges,  increase  in  number  of  graduate 

students,  31;  list  of,  243 
College  women,  number  of,  351;  health, 
353;  marriage    rate,    354,  and   table 
facing  p.  355;  occupations,  355 
Colonial  schools,  146 
Columbia  university,  269;  Columbia  col- 
lege, 270;  non-professional  schools, 
271;  organization,  270;  professional 
schools,  271;  publications,  299 
Committee  of  fifteen,  extracts  from  re- 
port, 14 
Committee  of  ten,  on  secondary  school 
studies,  169 


464b 


INDEX 


Common  school  statistics,  130 
Compulsory  attendance,  97;  statistics,  98 
Compulsory  education,  22 
Cornell    university,    272;    departments, 

273;  opened  to  women,  326 
Corporal  punishment,  133 
County  system,  11 

Courses  of  study  in  secondary  schools,  177 
Crime  and  education,  xi,  115 

D 

Differentiation  of  schools,  179 
District  system,  7 

Draper,  Andrew   S.,  Educational  organi- 
zation and  administration,  3 
Dutch  and  English  influence,  3 


Federal  control  of  schools,  23 
Federal  government,  gifts  from,  23 
First  state  superintendent,  27 


General  government  and  education,  vii, 
22 

H 

Harris,  William  T.,  Elementary  education, 

79 
Harvard   university,  266;    publications, 

298 
High  school  movement,  156;  buildings, 

438 
Hinsdale,  B.  A.,  Training  of  teachers,  ^(il 


Education  and  crime,  xi,  115 

Education  and  industry,  xiii 

Education  and  the  general  government, 
vii,  22 

Education  a  state  function,  viii 

Education  at  the  beginning  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  6 

Education,  chairs  of,  in  colleges  and  uni- 
versities, 391;  University  of  Michi- 
gan, 392 

Education,  literature  of,  xvi,  private 
aid  to,  xvii;  statistics  of,  ix;  study 
of,  xviii 

Education  of  women,  321 

Educational  organization  and  admin- 
istration, 3;  statistics  concerning 
enrolment,  value  of  property, 
teachers,  students,  institutions  and 
libraries,  30 

Educational  organization  in  the  United 
States,  94;  land  donated  by  the  gen- 
eral government,  95;  schools  sup- 
ported by  the  general  government, 
96;  the  local  unit,  105 

Elective  system  in  secondary  schools,  172 

Elementary  course  of  study,  106 

Elementary  education,  79;  general  sta- 
tistics, 126 

Elementary  schools,  subjects  taught,  109 

Elmira  college,  339 

English  and  Dutch  influence,  3 


Illiteracy,  xi 

Indiana    teachers'    reading    circle,  390; 

books  read,  390 
Introduction,  vii 


Johns  Hopkins  university,  261;  publica- 
tions, 298 

Joliet,  111.,  Fifth  ward  school  building, 
plates  vi  and  vii 

K 

Kansas  City  manual  training  high  school, 
plates  xix-xxii 

Kindergarten  children,  characteristics 
of,  44;  digest  of  letters  received  by 
Edwin  P.  Seaver,  44;  digest  of  let- 
ters received  by  Mary  C.  McCulloch, 
63;  letters  received  by  Alice  H.  Put- 
nam, 64;  published  statement,  68 

Kindergarten  college  of  Chicago,  75 

Kindergarten  departments  in  institu- 
tions, 73 

Kindergarten  education,  35 

Kindergarten,  established  by  Froebel, 
35;  dangers,  71;  growth,  42;  Dr  Har- 
ris on  early  history  of  kindergarten 
in  St  Louis,  39;  list  of  states  having 
extensive  provisions  for,  42;  other 
early  kindergartens,  36;  private 
training  schools,  72;  the  experi- 
ment in  St  Louis,  38 


INDEX 


464c 


Kindergarten  in  normal  schools,  73 
Kindergartens,  112 
Kindergarten  training  schools,  72 
Kirk,  John  R.,  reports  of  1896  and  1897, 
461 


Library  statistics,  30 
Literature  of  education,  xvi 
Local  influence  of  the  college,  xv 

M 

Manual  training,  iii 

Manual  training  high  school,  446 

Massachusetts  normal  schools,  371 

Methods  of  instruction  in  secondary 
schools,  183 

Michigan  state  normal  college,  372;  de- 
grees, 372 

Mills  college,  340 

Moral  influence  of  secondary  schools, 
186 

Morrison,  Gilbert  B.,  School  architecture 
and  hygiene,  411 

Mt  Holyoke  college,  338 

N 

National  government  and  education,  vii, 
22 

Newcomb,  H.  Sophie,  memorial  college, 
347 

New  York  city  public  school  building 
no.  165,  plates  x  and  xi;  no.  20, 
plate  xiii 

New  York,  powers  of  state  superintend- 
ent, 20 

New  York  state  board  of  regents,  20 

New  York  state  normal  college,  373;  de- 
grees, 373 

Normal  college  of  the  city  of  New  York, 
372;  degrees,  372 

Normal  schools,  368;  admission,  371;  ad- 
mission to  early  schools,  368;  ad- 
mission to  Massachusetts  schools, 
371;  authorities,  406;  buildings,  438; 
comparison  with  foreign  institu- 
tions, 378;  courses  of  study  in  early 
schools,  369;  early  schools,  368;  list 
of  early  schools,  370;  Oswego,  370; 
statistics,  376,  377 


Normal    students   in   high   schools  and 
academies,  380 


Oberlin  collegiate  institute,  324 
Oswego  normal  school,  370 


Pattengill,  Henry  R.,  "School  grounds, 
schoolhouse  architecture,  and  out- 
buildings," 460 

Peabody  normal  college,  374 

Perry,  Edward  Delavan,  The  American 
university,  253 

Popular  education,  place  of,|in  the  ideals 
of  the  American  people,  113 

Private  aid  to  education,  xvii 

Private  institutions,  25 

Professional  teachers,  82 

Public  instruction,  continuous  system  of, 
162 

Pupils,  number  in  all  schools,  126;  in 
common  schools,  128 


Radcliffe  college,  344,  345 
Randolph-Macon  woman's  college,  339 
Revolutionary    war,    changes    wrought 

by,  5 
Rockford  college,  340 

s 

Salaries  of  teachers.  102 
Schaeffer,  Nathan  C,  report  of,  460 
School  and  college  associations,  168 
School  architecture  and  hygiene,  411 
School  boards,  loi 

School  buildings,  411;  bibliography,  461; 
closets,  455  (plate  xxiv);  country 
school  houses,  412;  model  plan,  413 
(plates  i  and  ii);  heating  and  venti- 
lation, 413,  416;  high  school  build- 
iiig,  438;  two-room  building,  419 
(plates  iii  and  iv);  three-room  build- 
ing, 421  (plate  v);  eight-room  build- 
ing, 423  (plates  viii  and  ix);  large 
city,  ward  and  grammar  school 
building,  429  (plates  x-xxii);  neces- 
sary features,  411;  normal  school 
and  college  buildings,  457:  publica- 
tions of  different  states,  460 


46  4d 


INDEX 


School  district  system,  7 

School  funds,  sectarian  division  of,  104 

Schools  and  the  colleges,  163 

Schools  in  the  United  States,  historical 
beginnings,  117;  average  schooling, 
139 ;  Connecticut,  120 ;  early  city 
superintendents,  124 ;  early  state 
superintendents,  124;  Horace  Mann, 
123;  Massachusetts,  120,  121;  New 
Jersey,  121;  New  York,  120;  normal 
schools,  124;  number  of  students  in 
all  schools  1897-98,  126  ;  number  of 
students  in  common  schools,  128; 
Pennsylvania,  121;  Rhode  Island, 
120;  statistics,  130;  text  books,  135; 
Virginia,  120 

School  system  of  the  United  States,  6,  79 
(see  United  States  school  system) 

School  system,  what  it  consists  of,  6 

Secondary  education,  143;  academies, 
148;  accrediting  system,  165;  ado- 
lescence,study  of,  182;  bibliography, 
204;  character  of  academies,  153; 
college  entrance  requirements,  174; 
colonial  schools,  146;  committee  of 
ten  on  secondary  school  studies,  169; 
courses  of  study,  177;  differentia- 
tion of  schools,  179;  early  schools, 
144;  elective  system,  172;  high 
school  movement,  156;  methods  of 
instruction,  183;  moral  influence  of, 
186;  public  instruction,  continuous 
system  of,  162;  schools  and  colleges, 
163;  school  and  college  associations, 
168;  statistics,  200;  state  systems  of, 
150,  191;  students,  188;  teachers, 
190;  the  old  and  the  new,  161 
/Secondary  education,  public,  xiv 
'  Sectarian  division  of  school  funds,  104 

Sheldon,  Dr  E.  A.,  370 

Skinner,  Charles  R,,  "  Recent  school 
architecture,"  460 

Smith  college,  337 

Springfield,  Mass.,  high  schools,  plates 
xvi-xviii 

State  authority,  dependence  on,  18 

State  common  school  systems,  131 

States  and  the  schools,  17 

State  school  funds,  18;  sectarian  divis- 
ion of,  104 


State  superintendent,  powers  of,  in  New 

York,  20 
State  systems  of  secondary  schools,  150, 

191 
State  universities,  276 
Statistics  of  public  education,  ix 
Students  in  secondary  schools,  188 
Study  of  education,  xviii 
Summer  schools  for  teachers,  386 
Supervision,  27;  statistics,  100 


Teachers'  certificates  or  licenses,  401; 
report  of  committee  of  college  and 
university  professors,  402 

Teachers'  college  of  Columbia  univer- 
sity, 396;  courses  in,  397 

Teachers'  colleges;  Clark  university, 
398;  University  of  Chicago,  399;  Uni- 
versity of  Wisconsin,  400 

Teachers'  colleges,  395;  Richard  Mul- 
caster's  proposal,  395 

Teachers  in  secondary  schools,  igo 

Teachers'  institutes,  382 

Teachers'  pensions,  134 

Teachers'  reading  circles,  388 

Teachers'  salaries,  102 

Teachers'  training  classes,  379 

Text  books,  selection  and  supply  in  dif- 
ferent states,  135 

Thomas,  M.Carey,  Education  of  women,  321 

Township  system,  9 

Training  of  teachers,  361;  agencies,  361; 
development,  361;  normal  schools, 
368 

u 

United  States  bureau  of  education,  24 
United  States  school  system,  6,  79;  graded 
vs    ungraded    schools,    83;    profes- 
sional teachers,  average  in  vari&us 
classes  of  schools,  83;  rural  schools 
vs  city  schools,  83;  statistics,  79 
University  (see  American  university) 
University'extension  courses,  388 
University  fellowships  and  scholarships, 

300 
University   of   California,    279;    depart- 
ments, 280 
University  of  Chicago.  274;  departments, 
275;  publications,  300 


INDEX 


4646 


University  of  Pennsylvania,  263;  publi- 
cations, 298 

University  of  the  state  of  New  York, 
192 

University  of  Wisconsin,  278;  depart- 
ments, 278;  publications,  299 

University  problems,  305 

University  publications,  297;  Chicago, 
300;  Columbia,  299;  Harvard,  298; 
Johns  Hopkins,  298;  Pennsylvaina, 
298;  Wisconsin,  299 

Universities  united  with  colleges  and 
professional  schools,  260 


Vassar  college,  336 

w 

Wells  college,  339 

Wellesley  college,  336 

West,  Andrew  Fleming,  The  American 
college,  209 

Whitford,  W.  C,  "Plans  and  specifica- 
tions of  schoolhouses,"  460 

Woman's  college  of  Baltimore,  338 

Woman's  college  of  Brown  university, 
344.346 


Woman's  college  of  Western  reserve 
university,  344,  347 

Women,  college  education  of,  321;  a 
modified  vs  unmodified  curriculum, 
357;  affiliated  colleges,  344;  Antioch 
college,  324;  colleges  not  admitting 
women,  331;  Cornell  university,  326; 
independent  colleges  for,  334;  Ober- 
lin  collegiate  institute,  324;  other 
colleges,  326;  preparatory  depart- 
ments in  colleges,  341;  state  univer- 
sities,  324 

Women,  education  of,  321;  college  edu- 
cation, 321 

Women  in  school  administration,  loi 

Women,  professional  education  of,  349; 
graduate  fellowships  and  scholar- 
ships, 350;  graduate  instruction  in 
philosophy,  349;  theology,  law,  med- 
icine, dentistry,  pharmacy,  veteri- 
nary science,  schools  of  technology 
and  agriculture,  351 

Woodbridge,  S.  H.,  "Schoolhouse  warm- 
ing and  ventilating,"  460 


Yale  university,  268;  departments,  369 


SUBJ 


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Three  v 

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University  of  California 

SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

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